This local perspective comes from the Advisory Report: 
State Leadership Must Take Action to Protect Water Security for All Oregonians
The Audits Division worked with North Coast Communities for Watershed Protection (NCCWP) to interview community members from a number of coastal cities, including people from Manzanita, Wheeler, Rockaway Beach, Garibaldi, Nehalem, and Netarts. Forestry, agriculture, and tourism are major industries in the region, which is largely rural with several small and medium sized communities. The North Coast gets substantial amounts of rain during the winter months but can be subject to dry spells in the summer. Many water users depend on surface or groundwater sources that are vulnerable to saltwater intrusion, drought, or the impacts of industrial and agricultural practices.
Residents voiced many different concerns about impacts to their drinking water, both on city systems and on private wells. Most prominent among these were the impacts of forest practices on watershed health and water availability in the coast range: the destruction or loss of water sources to private residences; environmental impacts; potential human health impacts caused by spraying pesticides in and around clear cuts; increasingly unaffordable water bills; longer periods of drought limiting water supplies for communities and water systems, particularly during the summer months; increased water demand from new development and short term rentals; and a lack of responsiveness on the part of state agencies tasked with regulating forestry operations and protecting water quality.
NCCWP members we spoke with wanted more transparency from the state and local industries on when practices like clear cutting and pesticide spraying happen and how they might impact communities. They wanted local water sources to undergo testing to ensure water quality and safety. They also wanted more clarity and support from the state on how they could effectively engage with local and regional water and land management decisions that impacted both their personal and community welfare.
Left: A portion of the Jetty Creek Watershed was clearcut in 2005. Right: By 2015, a substantially larger proportion of the Jetty Creek Watershed had been clearcut. | Source: Google Earth
Nancy Webster
Nancy grew up on the Oregon Coast and chose to retire in Rockaway Beach. She and her neighbors became concerned about clear cutting they noticed taking place in the Jetty Creek Watershed, which is a primary source of drinking water for Rockaway Beach. She also began to receive notices with her water bill that her drinking water had exceeded EPA limits for total trihalomethanes. Rockaway Beach issued 19 alerts between 2005 and 2013 before enhancing the city’s filtration system in 2014. That same time saw significant cutting in the Jetty Creek watershed — ultimately, over 90% of the watershed was cut between 2000 and 2021.
Nancy and other Rockaway Beach residents formed Rockaway Beach Citizens for Watershed Protection. They soon began to hear from communities all over the North Coast region concerned about water insecurity and damage to their own watersheds. The group expanded and became NCCWP, which now includes approximately 900 community members from Oregon’s North Coast region.
NCCWP has pursued conversations with city officials and several state agencies, spoken at board meetings and local watershed council meetings, gathered signatures for petitions for state help, and filed numerous complaints about practices that could impact drinking water. Nancy stated, "none of these agencies were able to offer any significant monitoring, help, or protection,” but she believes “most of these state agency employees would like to help protect public water supplies."
John Rogan
John Rogan has owned a home in Netarts since 2014. The original water source for his home came from an intake on Hathaway Creek. When a large storm hit the coast in December 2015, the embankment of a road on a clear cut above their property came down in a landslide, which dammed the creek. Shortly after, the dam failed and "sent a torrent, some 40 feet high, of mud, rocks and trees down the creek onto our property as well as our neighbor." John and his wife had to evacuate immediately on foot; the damage to both properties was extensive and destroyed John’s water supply.
The timber producer did purchase a new water system. However, due to the damage done to the creek bed and surrounding areas, the system was unreliable and required continuous maintenance. Ultimately, John had to put in a well, at substantial personal cost.
John learned in 2020 the same timber producer planned to clear cut a steep slope directly above his house. The company had been given permission to proceed by the Department of Forestry.
From John’s perspective, "... Not only do our communities benefit less from timber harvests, but they are at times adversely effected by some questionable practices. Nor does it seem that as things now stand, can the community expect much in the way of protection from the Oregon Department of Forestry or from the Legislature. It is time for a change.”
A 2015 landslide destroyed a neighbor’s outbuildings and hit John Rogan’s property. | Source: John Rogan