To The Eagle:

I am writing to you regarding the dredging issue and replenishment of the beach with sand. I have seen several reports in The Wahkiakum County Eagle of resistance to dredge spoil placement and failure to sign access forms by Steve Sharp. He has claimed that there is no loss of beach on his property per the reporting in the paper.

As someone who owns one property just upriver of him and another, a short distance downriver, I can assure you there has been erosion of the beach at both those locations. Also proving the existence of erosion at Mr. Sharp’s property is the loss of sand around the wing dam in front of his home. About 20 years ago, a wing dam was removed in this location and there were no exposed pilings left. There are now multiple exposed pilings verifying the existence of erosion. This is also visible on Google Earth, where one can see how the line of vegetation has moved over time.

I applaud the commissioners acting in the best interests of all of their constituents and not letting one or a small minority of landowners negatively impact their neighbors by bullying.

Doug Martin

Puget Island