Corps views eroding shoreline

Karla Ellis, a department head at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, stopped by Trish and Randy Shroyer's house last week to to talk to neighbors in the Little Cape Horn area about their concerns.

She was there at the residents' request to get a good look at the beach, which is disappearing and threatening homes in the Little Cape Horn neighborhood.

Assistants for Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and Representative Jaime Herrera-Beutler were on hand, as were Wahkiakum County Commissioner Dan Cothren and Wahkiakum Public Works Director Chuck Beyer.

"There has been tons of analysis in our office about when do we think we might be able to do this, how we will actually be able to do this, where we'll be able to place," Ellis said. "We have a huge team organized internally to work through the issues as well.

"I realize that a lot of that is unseen to you, but I assure you there is a ton of work happening in the office towards this effort. It is a daily discussion for us quite frankly."

After some conversation, the group moved down to the beach to get a closer look at the erosion.

"We definitely feel that the time Karla and the other officials spent here to hear us out and actually see for themselves the loss of land and structures to our banks and property was effective," Trish Shroyer said later. "It was a positive meeting for us. We believe the meeting and time on the beach brought us another step forward to getting the sand prioritized by the Corps of Engineers.

"Karla shared that she will try to fit

our

dredged delivery of sand into the existing Corps of Engineers schedule. We are so thankful for their time and believe they have a clearer plan of attack to restore the sand."