NCCWP End-of-Year Holiday Edition Newsletter
Note: November’s and December’s NCCWP
last Tuesday monthly meetings
in Rockaway are cancelled!
Happy Holidays to all our wonderful friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens who support healthy watersheds, clean air, and safe drinking water! North Coast Communities for Watershed Protection (NCCWP) has had a busy year, and greatly appreciates the work and support our members continue to provide. While we will remain vigilant throughout the holiday season, we have decided that our monthly meetings in Rockaway Beach for November and December are too close to the major holidays and will not be held. Meetings will resume starting January 27, 2026 at 6 pm. We will, of course, provide updates and notices as needed.
We would also like to share a bit of good news with you. As you may know, the Rockaway Beach City Council voted unanimously to reverse its prior approval for a 28-lot Planned Unit Development in Nedonna Beach. The applicant, Nedonna Development LLC, has chosen to appeal that decision to the State of Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). NCCWP, along with Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, will be represented by Crag Law Center to intervene in this case. We will keep you informed as this process unfolds. See attachment Oregon Shores and NCCWP Motion to Intervene represented by Crag Law Center.
A few other highlights are:
Floodplain Management Codes: On December 16th, 2025 at 6pm Oregon Shore Conservation Coalition and the Northwest Environmental Defence Center will host a webinar titled “Beyond the High Water Mark: A Call for Floodplain Management Reform to ensure Compliance with Federal Law and Bolster Community Resilience to Flooding, Climate Change”. This presentation will go over the history of Northwest Environmental Defense Center et. al. v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is the driving factor in Oregon communities moving to update their floodplain management codes. We will discuss why adequate updates are necessary to ensure that local communities, developers, the State, and FEMA comply with federal law as they participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, as well as how protecting floodplain habitat necessarily allows us to build more resilient communities that are better able to withstand ever increasing flooding events. You can sign up for this webinar at oregonshores.org/?post_type=event&p=51628&preview=true
Directly related to the above, on November 12th, the City of Rockaway Beach voted to postpone its efforts to adopt modified ordinances which would clarify how, or if, development would be addressed in the flood hazard areas. NCCWP has advocated for no development in those areas which are vital for flood control, wetland protection, drinking water source protection, fisheries, and critical habitat to a wide variety of plants and animals. City Council members felt they have only heard from one voice, and will take steps to gather input from other interested parties. NCCWP and its members need the City Council to understand that while many citizens certainly agree that protection of our watersheds and drinking water supplies is of critical importance, we speak with many voices and have a wide variety of individual/personal concerns.
NCCWP has hosted two screenings of the movie “The People vs Agent Orange”, one in Astoria and one in Tillamook. Both screenings were well attended and generated excellent discussion.
Important Reminder: Oregon Department of Forestry – Forest Management Plan (FMP): This is the “mothership” of forest practices in Oregon and a good opportunity to ask for language to be included that will protect all drinking water sources from logging and pesticides. The public comment period began November 1 and will close January 31st, 2026. Four public hearings are scheduled for January. The first will be a virtual hearing (Jan 13th), the second will be in Forest Grove (Jan 15th), the third will be in Tillamook (Jan 20th), and the fourth in Eugene (Jan 22nd). All begin at 5:30 pm. We encourage you to attend one of the hearings. The Tillamook hearing is at the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), 5005 3rd Street, Tillamook. We are frustrated that a hearing has not been scheduled for Astoria. In response to that poor decision by ODF we are planning a gathering on January 13 in Astoria at Kala, 1017 Marine Drive, Astoria to coincide with ODF’s virtual hearing. We will open the doors at 4pm for food, drinks, social time and a brief overview of the FMP and potential talking points. Then at 5:30 we will join the hearing using the equipment at Kala. Each person that wishes to provide comments will have to register ahead of time with ODF (we will send details in January) but can use the microphone, wifi etc at Kala to provide testimony. NCCWP will be providing an official comment with a focus on protecting drinking watersheds but individuals are welcome to comment about anything to do with management of our public (state) forests. ODF has indicated that they may have some public presentations but we have not heard any details yet. Please save the date(s); January 13, 4pm at KALA in Astoria and/or January 20 5:30pm in Tillamook.
Have a safe and meaningful holiday season!
NCCWP wants no more logging and pesticide use in community drinking water sources regardless of who owns the land, and wants an end to pesticide applications near where people live, work, and recreate. Safe drinking water and clean air are part of the public trust that we all are entitled to have. Please help North Coast Communities for Watershed Protection safeguard and restore our drinking watersheds. . www.healthywatershed.org | www.facebook.com/NCCWATERSHEDPROTECTION
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