The Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan (YBEMP) is being updated for the first time in 40 years. This plan guides Lincoln County, City of Newport, and City of Toledo in protecting the estuary’s species diversity and habitats while meeting community needs for appropriate development. The YBEMP not only has local significance, but also serves as the prototype for updating other estuary management plans along the Oregon coast. The public can comment on the draft YBEMP up until July 14, 2023.

Take action today to submit a comment urging that climate change be addressed and integrated in the plan. The draft YBEMP and comments form are available here or you can email comments to ethan@willamettepartnership.org.

*Yaquina Bay Bridge photo by Ruth Shelly*

Do you have a favorite place in the Yaquina Bay Estuary where you would like to see natural resources preserved? Check out the map viewer to learn more about a specific place and how it will be managed.

Please consider including any or all of the following recommendations in your comments:

The County needs to address climate change impacts more fully in the update process.
The updated plan should include a clear process to allow future revisions.
The definition of “mitigation” should be expanded to include minimizing and avoiding adverse impacts to critical habitat.
List any particular places in the Yaquina Bay Estuary that you want preserved or restored.

For those looking for more detail on what to say in a public comment letter, please see the YBEMP Comment Guide. Watch our recorded webinar for more information on how you can get involved with the update of the YBEMP. You can also learn more and make comments at Town Hall meetings to be held in Newport (July 6), Toledo (July 10), and online (July 11).

Thank you for your commitment to preserving and restoring Yaquina Bay Estuary and increasing its resilience to climate change!

A bill under consideration in the Oregon House of Representatives seriously threatens to dismantle environmental regulation and land use planning for all of the state’s deepwater ports. At the request of Oregon Public Ports Association, House Bill 3382 allows ports to construct, maintain, and improve deep-draft navigation channel improvements (greater than 37 ft. depth) without demonstrating compliance with state or local land use law. Ports could ignore land use and other regulations protecting habitats, species, water quality, and ecological functions including carbon sequestration. Had this bill been in effect earlier, the Jordan Cove Liquified Natural Gas facility that Oregonians rejected by demonstrating it was not consistent with the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) would have gone through with little or no environmental review.

HB 3382 puts at risk birds, wildlife, fish, and water quality in irreplaceable estuaries across the state. As written, this bill would eliminate much of the environmental review for port deepwater projects in Coos Bay, Yaquina Bay, the lower Columbia River, and Portland.

HB 3382 appears to be fast-tracked with a first hearing scheduled before the Joint Committee on Transportation on March 14, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Make your voice heard in opposition to this bad legislation.

Submit a written comment here

Please note: Written comments using the above link must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on March 16. If you send written comments past that date, please direct it to your state legislators.

More background information is provided on the Legislative Information System webpage.

You can use the sample message below or write one of your own.

Sample Message:

HB 3382 undermines land use planning laws for all of Oregon’s deepwater ports. Authorizing major development projects to proceed without demonstrating compliance with state and local land use law puts at risk the valuable public resources of fish, birds, wildlife, and their habitats within our irreplaceable estuaries.

In addition to rendering state and local land use laws ineffective, HB 3382 subverts processes for public involvement in the review and input of how some projects may affect the places we live, recreate, and work. Oregon has a legacy of public engagement in natural resource management. This bill denies the public opportunities to participate in the review process for port projects in deepwater channels. The bill also sets a dangerous precedent for special interest groups to exempt themselves from state and local laws.

Please reject HB 3382 by acknowledging its incompatibility with the Oregon Coastal Management Program, and that the bill is not in the public’s interest.

How to contact your state legislators

Action Alert: Your input is needed to preserve and restore Yaquina Bay Estuary!

Action Alert: Protect our estuaries - Stop ports from making an end run around state and local land use law!