June 7, 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Oregon Beach Bill, which forever guarantees the public’s right to access and passage on all beaches along the Oregon Coast. Earlier law had set the extent of the public land at the high tide line, but the Beach Bill made it so that public land extended to the vegetation line.
After a childhood in California and many years as a resident of Hawaii, both states which also have public beach laws, I pretty much took beach access for granted. Therefore it was a bit of a shock, and frustration, when I was working on my book Photographing Washington that I couldn’t just walk down a beach, even from a public right of way to the beach.
Big thanks to Oregonians for continuing to support public lands and access to those lands.
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