ACCRETION. Growth by external addition; the build-up of land along a beach or shore by the gradual deposition of airborne or waterborne and sediment or other material.

ACTIVE RESTORATION. The use of specific positive remedial action, such as removing fills, dredging of shoaled navigation channels, installing water treatment facilities or rebuilding deteriorated urban waterfront areas.

ACTIVITY. A development action generally taken in conjunction with a use and which makes a use possible: activities do not in and of themselves result in a specific use of land or water area: often several activities (e.g., dredging, piling, filling) may occur with a single use (e.g., port facility). Most activities take place in conjunction with a wide variety of uses. (See also REGULATED ACTIVITY.)

AESTHETIC. Values derived from sensory experiences including vision, smell and hearing; values relating to harmony, as in landscape features, rather than strictly economic or utilitarian values; the aggregate of qualities that give pleasure to the sense or exalt the mind or spirit.

AGGREGATE. A material such as gravel composed of mineral crystals of one or more kinds of mineral or rock fragments.

ANADROMOUS FISH. Oceanic or estuarine fish species that enter fresh water to spawn.

AQUACULTURE. The propagation, planting, feeding or growing and harvesting of fish, shellfish, plankton or aquatic plants.

AQUACULTURE FACILITY. A structure which is built, installed or established as a means to engage in aquaculture: fish release and recapture facilities in association with facilities for growing fish or shellfish and tanks for cultivation of fish or shellfish are included within this category.

AQUATIC AREAS. Estuarine waters, intertidal areas, tidal wetlands and submerged lands. The upper limit of aquatic areas is the line of non-aquatic vegetation or, where such a line cannot be accurately determined, the mean higher high water line in tidal areas or ordinary high water (OHW) in non-tidal areas.

AQUATIC HABITAT. Pertaining to aquatic areas; growing in aquatic areas; living in or frequenting the margins of aquatic areas, as do aquatic plants and waterfowl.

AVULSION. A tearing away or separation by the force of water; land that is separated from adjacent lands or properties by the action of a stream or river cutting through the land to form a new streambed.

BANK-LINE OR STREAM ALTERATION. Realignment of a stream bank or the entire stream, either within or outside of its normal high water boundaries.

BEACH NOURISHMENT. A program in which sand, dredge spoils or other materials are deliberately deposited in a place calculated to result in beneficial beach accretion.

BIOCIDE. Any chemical designed to kill living organisms; examples include insecticides, herbicides and/or fungicides.

BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD). A measure of the amount of dissolved oxygen required in biochemical processes to oxidize wastes in water.

BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY. The amount of living material produced in a given area (or volume of water) in a given amount of time. This may be subdivided into primary production (amount of green plant production) and secondary production (amount of animal consumer production).

BREAKWATER. An offshore structure of rock, steel, concrete or piling designed to protect a beach or harbor from the force of waves and currents. They may be either attached to the bottom or may be floating structures.

BUFFER. A limited use area separating a developed or intensively used area from a protected area.

BULKHEAD. A vertical wall of steel, timber, concrete or piling (a type of seawall).

BUOY. A distinctively marked and shaped anchored float, sometimes carrying a light, whistle or bell, which marks a channel or obstruction.

COASTAL LAKES. Lakes in the coastal zone that are created by a dune formation or that have a hydrologic surface or subsurface connection with salt water.

COMMUNICATION FACILITIES. Electrical distribution lines and line support structures.

CURRENT. Mass of water moving in a certain direction. There are surface currents, bottom currents and mid-water currents that do not necessarily move in the same direction or with the same velocity.

DIKE.

DISSOLVED OXYGEN. The amount of oxygen dissolved in water.

DITCHING. The digging of a long narrow excavation in the earth for drainage of surface waters or for irrigation. DITCHING does not include alteration of a natural watercourse.

DIVERSITY. The number of species in a given area or volume of water, or the variety of species present in a biological community.

DOCK. A pier, piling or secured floatation platform for marine craft tie-up in association with one or more private residences.

DOLPHIN. A group of pilings held together by a steel cable.

DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL (DMD). The deposition of material obtained from dredging. (Also see FILL.)

DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL SETTLING POND. An impoundment for run-off water from a dredged material disposal site. SETTLING PONDS allow suspended particles in runoff water to settle out before the runoff water enters an aquatic area.

DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL (DMD) SITE. An area identified in the Tillamook/Nehalem Bay dredged material disposal plan element of the County Comprehensive Plan as a potential site for the disposal of dredged material, subject to state and federal permit requirements.

DREDGING. The removal of sediment or other inorganic material from a stream, river or coastal lake, or from estuarine waters, intertidal areas and tidal wetlands.

DREDGING FOR ON-SITE MAINTENANCE. Dredging for the purpose of maintaining the functional operation of an existing structure or facility. DREDGING FOR ON-SITE MAINTENANCE is confined to the same geographic area as the existing structure or facility, and is the minimum necessary to maintain the functional operation of a structure or facility.

DREDGING MAINTENANCE. Dredging for the purpose of maintaining access by water to an existing structure or facility.

ECOLOGY. The study of the interrelationships among organisms and their physical, chemical and biological environments.

EELGRASS. A true seed-producing, blade-like marine plant which forms beds on estuary bottoms.

ENERGY FACILITY. Equipment or a piece of equipment designed to generate energy. Solar collectors, wave, wind and tidal power generators and low-head hydroelectric dams are included within this category.

ENTRANCE CHANNEL. The portion of a waterway exposed to wave surge from the open sea, and which provides protected access or opening to the main channel.

EROSION. The wearing away of land by any of several agents or due to gravity. EROSION may be cause by the action of water or wind, or through any of several types of mass movement including slump, debris slide, rock-fall, soil creep and the like.

EROSION CONTROL STRUCTURE. Any structure designed to prevent or reduce erosion of land, including structural methods of shoreline stabilization such as riprap, groins or bulkheads.

ESTUARINE WATERS. Channel areas below mean lower low water; subtidal areas.

ESTUARY.

ESTUARY PLANNING BOUNDARY. The management boundary around each of the estuaries of the county within which estuary zones are located. The ESTUARY PLANNING BOUNDARY includes estuarine waters, intertidal areas and tidal wetlands up to mean higher high water (MHHW) or the line of non-aquatic vegetation (whichever is most landward). The ESTUARY PLANNING BOUNDARY extends upstream in coastal streams and rivers to the head of tidewater.

EXISTING STRUCTURE OR FACILITY. A structure or facility which is in current use or good repair as of the date of adoption of this chapter (including structures or facilities which are in conformance with the requirements of this chapter and non-conforming structures or facilities established prior to 10-7-1977) or dikes established prior to 10-7-1977 which have been damaged by flooding, erosion or tide gate failure.

FACILITY. A group or combination of structures that is built, installed or established to serve a particular purpose.

FILL. The placement by humans of soil, sediment, dredged materials or other materials which result in the replacement of an aquatic area with dry lands; a change in the bottom elevation of a water-body (in estuarine waters, intertidal areas or tidal wetlands); an increase in the elevation of land (on shorelands). The placement of riprap or manure spreading is excluded from this category.

FLOOD CONTROL STRUCTURE. Any structure designed to prevent or reduce flooding of land, such as a dike or tide gates.

FLUSHING CAPACITY. The relative rate at which the water of an estuary or a portion of an estuary is replaced. The flushing rate is usually expressed as the time required for one complete replacement. Important measurement for estimating sewage and other discharge dilution and dispersion, and the exchange of oxygen, seawater, plankton and the like between the estuary and the ocean.

GROIN. A dam for sand; a structure built at right angles to the beach to interrupt longshore sand movement (littoral drift) and trap sand in order to stabilize or widen a beach.

HABITAT. The place of residence of a species, sometimes characterized by the dominant vegetation, or the grain size of the sediment.

HERBICIDE. Any chemical that is designed to kill plants. Such chemicals may act through the soil to kill seeds or be applied directly to foliage.

HIGH INTENSITY RECREATION. Recreation that requires specially built facilities, or occurs in such density or form that is required or results in a modification of the area or resource. Examples include: campgrounds, golf courses, marinas, docks and moorages, and commercial off-road vehicle use areas.

HYDROGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS. The description of the oceans, estuaries, rivers and lakes. Specifically, the measurement of flow and investigation of the behavior of bodies of water and the surveying, sounding and charting of bodies of water including the determination of bottom contours and the position of channels and shoals.

IMPOUNDMENT. A body of water formed by impounding (the collection of water in a reservoir).

INTEGRITY. The quality or state of being complete and functionally unimpaired; the wholeness or entirety of a body or system including its parts, materials and processes. The integrity of an ecosystem emphasizes the interrelatedness of all parts and the unity of its whole.

INTERTIDAL. Between the tides, here considered to be that area between the mean lower low water (MLLW) and mean higher high water (MHHW).

JACKSON TURBIDITY UNITY (JTU). The standard unit used in measuring the turbidity of a water sample; designed in terms of the depth of water to which a candle flame can be clearly distinguished. The JACKSON CANDLE TURBIDITY METER is the standard measuring instrument which compares the amount of light penetrating a given water sample with that penetrating a standard sample.

JETTY. A large navigational structure made of rock or concrete that is generally used to stabilize channels and improve scour at the mouth of an estuary.

LITTORAL. Of or pertaining to the shore, especially of the sea. Coastal.

LITTORAL DRIFT. The movement of sand by littoral (long-shore) currents in a direction parallel to the beach along the shore.

LOG DUMP/SORT AREA (IN WATER). An area used to transfer logs to or from the land to water, normally associated with log storage or yards, log booming, processing of shipping facilities where rafts are built or dismantled.

LOG STORAGE (IN WATER). The use of water surface area to store commercial logs in rafts until ready for market or processing.

LOG STORAGE/SORTING AREA (DRY LAND). An area where logs are gathered from surrounding harvest areas, weighed, sorted for species and size and quality, and stored until ready for transfer to water storage areas or to market.

LONG-SHORE CURRENT. A current, created by waves, which moves parallel to and against the shore, particularly in shallow water and which is most noticeable in the surf or breaker zone. Littoral current.

LOW INTENSITY. Refers to a use or activity that does not require developed facilities and which can be accommodated without significant adverse impact to the area or resource.

LOW INTENSITY RECREATION. Recreation that does not require developed facilities and can be accommodated without change to the area or resource. Examples include: boating, hunting, hiking, wildlife photography, beachcombing and picnicking.

LOW WATER BRIDGE. A temporary bridge, generally constructed of logs and planking, which is placed over minor streams and sloughs in early summer when water flow is very low or intermittent. The bridges are removed when fall freshets occur. LOW WATER BRIDGES involve less than 50 cubic yards of fill, and are generally constructed of logs and planking.

MAIN CHANNEL. The part of the waterway that extends upstream from the entrance channel in to the estuary proper. All or segments of the MAIN CHANNEL may be maintained by dredging. The MAIN CHANNEL does not include auxiliary channels or waterways.

MAINTENANCE. The work of keeping an existing structure or facility in good working order or in conformance with current building or engineering codes. MAINTENANCE WORK is confined to the same geographic area as the existing structure or facility and does not result in an increase in floor area or surface area. Replacement of bridge crossing support structures and bridge approach ramps may be considered a form of MAINTENANCE, if the resulting bridge support structure or ramp is the minimum size necessary to accommodate the same number of traffic lanes as exist on that portion of the highway.

MARINAS. Publicly-owned or privately owned commercial facilities which provide berthing, launching, storage, supplies and a variety of services of recreational, commercial fishing and charter fishing marine craft. MARINAS are differentiated from moorages by their larger scale, the provision of significant accessory landslide services and/or the use of solid breakwater (rock, bulkheading and the like).

MEAN HIGHER HIGH WATER. A determined average elevation of a set of tide planes defined in Oregon 26, U.S. Department of Commerce Environment Science Services Administration Coast and Geodetic Survey Tidal Bench Mark for the Lower Nehalem River.

MEAN LOWER LOW WATER. The average height of the lower tides observed over a specific time interval.

MINING and MINERAL EXTRACTION. The removal of minerals, petroleum resources, sand, gravel, stone or other naturally occurring materials from the shoreland and/or the bed beneath an estuarine area. Dredging for the sole purpose of channel or harbor improvements, or for flood control, is not included within this category.

MINOR NAVIGATIONAL IMPROVEMENT. A navigational improvement of such limited size or scale that it can be accomplished without significant adverse impacts to an area or its resources. Examples are the installation of navigational aids or floating breakwaters, snag removal and dredging of less than 50 cubic yards for which state and federal permits are not required. Other dredging or fill actions which require state or federal permits may be included within this category upon a determination by the Division of State Lands or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the action is consistent with the resource capabilities and purposes of a given area.

MITIGATION SITES. An area identified in the Mitigation/Restoration Plan element of the County Comprehensive Plan as a potential site for estuarine creation, restoration or enhancement; subject to applicable state and federal standards.

MOORAGE. A publicly-owned or privately-owned pier, piling or secured float or floats or marine craft tie-up which is operated as a commercial use or in association with a commercial use or a light industrial facility. MOORAGES contain less than 25 berths, and have minimal shore-side services and no solid breakwater. (See also DOCK and MARINA.)

MOORING BUOY. A device of buoyant material which is attached by guideline to the shoreland, or anchored to the bed of an estuary, river, stream or coastal lake and is used for marine craft tie-up in association with one or more private residences. Floating docks are not included within this category.

NATURAL ESTUARIES. Estuaries lacking maintained jetties or channels and which are usually little developed for residential, commercial or industrial uses. They may have altered shorelines; provided that, these altered shorelines are not adjacent to an urban area. Shorelands around NATURAL ESTUARIES are generally for agricultural, forest, recreation and other rural uses (Sandlake).

NAVIGATION AID. A beacon, buoy or channel marker.

NAVIGATIONAL IMPROVEMENT. Any structure or action that serves to increase the ability of a navigable waterway to provide passage to marine craft. Examples are the installation of navigational structures or aids, or activities such as dredging. (See also MINOR NAVIGATIONAL IMPROVEMENT.)

NAVIGATIONAL STRUCTURES. Structures such as pile dikes, groins, jetties, dolphins or breakwaters that are installed to help maintain navigation channels or protect marinas and harbors by controlling water flow, wave action or sand improvement.

NON-POINT SOURCE. A source of pollution that does not come from a point source. The four major types of NON-POINT SOURCE pollution in the estuary area are: agricultural, urban, forestry and stream bank runoff.

ORDINARY HIGH WATER LINE. A line delineating the highest water level which has been maintained for a sufficient period of time to leave evidence upon the landscape, such as: a clear, natural line impressed on the bank; shelving; changes in character of the soil; change from predominately aquatic to predominately terrestrial vegetation; or the presence of organic litter or debris.

PASSIVE RESTORATION. The use of natural processes, sequences and timing that occurs after removal or reduction of adverse stresses without other specific positive remedial action.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. A specific measure for control of a human use or activity.

PESTICIDE. Any chemical that is used to control pests.

PIER. A structure extending out into the water generally supported with piling and generally used to afford convenient passage for persons and goods to and from vessels alongside the pier. Sometimes synonymous with WHARF.

PILE DIKE. A flow control structure that is used primarily in riverine systems and is made of closely spaced piling connected by timbers; usually it is perpendicular to the shore. PILE DIKES are constructed to increase scour in the navigation channel and/or control shoreline erosion by interrupting sand transport and encouraging sedimentation in the sheltered lee of the pile dike. PILE DIKES are generally constructed in groups and may require fill between individual pilings.

PILING. A long, slender column of wood, steel or reinforced concrete driven, jetted or otherwise embedded on and into the ground or into the bed of rivers or estuaries for the purpose of supporting piers and docks, floating structures, vessels, log rafts or other structures or loads.

POINT SOURCE. Point source pollutants are those collected and discharged from discernible, confined and discrete conveyances such as pipes and discharge canals.

PRACTICABLE. Capable of being done within existing constraints. The test of what is practicable depends upon the situation and includes consideration of the pertinent factors such as environment, cost or technology.

PRIORITY DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL (DMD) SITES. Sites that may not be developed or used in a manner that would preclude their ultimate use as DMD SITES. An amendment to the County Comprehensive Plan and zoning maps must be taken to remove a DMD SITE from this category.

PRIORITY MITIGATION SITES. Sites that may not be developed or used in a manner that would preclude their ultimate use as mitigation sites. An amendment to the County Comprehensive Plan and zoning maps must be taken to remove a MITIGATION SITE from this category.

PROTECTION. Saving or shielding from loss, destruction or injury or for future intended use.

PUBLIC NEED. A community desire or preference that produces, when satisfied, a net affect that is a direct benefit to the public at large.

RECREATION. Enjoyable active and passive leisure time activities.

RECREATIONAL FACILITY. A structure that is built, installed or established as an aid to recreation. Temporary or easily removable structures such as picnic tables are not considered as RECREATIONAL FACILITIES.

REGULATED ACTIVITY. The following actions involving alterations to estuary aquatic areas which are generally undertaken in conjunction with offshore uses, and for which state and federal permits are required: fill; dredging, dredged material disposal; in-water log storage; and out-fall installation.

REPAIR. To restore an existing structure or facility to sound condition after damage or injury. REPAIR WORK is confined to the same geographic area as the existing structure or facility, and does not result in an increase in floor area or surface area.

RESOURCE CAPABILITY. The measure of an area, or the biological communities within an area to withstand alteration. A use or activity is considered to be consistent with the RESOURCE CAPABILITIES of an area if the level of use proposed can be accommodated without producing significant adverse impacts to biological productivity or to the quality of air, land and water resources within the area.

RESTORATION. Replacing or restoring original attributes or amenities such as natural biological productivity and aesthetic or cultural resources that have been diminished or lost by past alterations, activities or catastrophic events.

REVETMENT. A structure with armors. The slope face of a dune or bluff with one or more layers of rock (riprap) or concrete.

RIPARIAN. Of, pertaining to, or living on the narrow zone adjacent to a river, estuary, lake or other watercourse.

RIPRAP. A facing layer of material (usually stone) placed on an embankment to prevent erosion, scour or sloughing.

RURAL SHORELAND. Shoreland areas that are outside of the urban growth boundary off an incorporated or unincorporated community.

SALT MARSH. A tidal wetland which has poorly drained soil; poorly aerated soil; varying concentrations of salt; and whose dominant plants are salt-tolerant aquatic or semi-aquatic emergent species such as sedges, rushes and some grasses. SALT MARSHES typically develop on mud or sand flats that have attained an elevation near main sea level and often occur behind sand spits at river mouths and along shallow bays.

SANITARY LANDFILL. A system for final disposal of solid waste on lane, in which the waste is spread and compacted on an inclined, minimized working face in a series of cells and a daily cover of earth is provided so that no hazard or insult to the environment results.

SEAWALL. A solid barricade built at the water’s edge to protect the shore and to prevent inland flooding.

SEDIMENTATION. The settling or deposition of sediments (e.g., eroded soils) that are suspended within or being transported by water.

SETBACK. A distance measured in feet from a property line, zone boundary, ordinary high water line, mean higher high water line or other boundary within which development is not permitted.

SHALLOW-DRAFT DEVELOPMENT ESTUARY. An estuary with maintained jetties and a main channel maintained by dredging at 22 feet or less (Tillamook Bay, Nehalem Bay).

SHOAL. A build-up of waterborne or airborne sand, sediment or other material within an estuary, stream or river channel that causes a reduction in water channel depth.

SHORELAND. Land shown on the county zoning maps that is contiguous with the ocean; to estuaries and to coastal lakes.

SHORELINE STABILIZATION. The protection of the banks of tidal or non-tidal streams or rivers, estuarine waters or coastal lakes from flooding or erosions by vegetative means; or by structural means such as riprap, groins, bulkheads or dikes.

SLOPE. The inclined surface of a hill, mountain, dune or any part of the surface of the earth. The angle at which such surfaces deviate from the horizontal.

SOLID WASTE. All putrescible and non-putrescible wastes including, but not limited to, garbage; rubbish; refuse; ashes; waste paper; cardboard; sewage sludge; septic tank and cesspool pumping; commercial, industrial, demolition and construction wastes; discarded or abandoned vehicles or parts thereof; discarded appliances, manure, vegetable or animal solid or semisolid wastes; but not including environmentally hazardous wastes; materials used for fertilizer or for other productive purposes; or fill material.

STAKE. A piece of wood, pipe or other material driven into land or into the bed of an estuary, river, stream or coastal lake as a marker or support. STAKES differ from piling in that their installation does not require pile drivers or other heavy equipment.

SUPPORT STRUCTURE. A structure designed to hold up or serve as a foundation for something. Examples are pilings, piers, trestles or culverts in association with bridge crossings for roads and railroads; or poles in association with power or telephone lines.

TIDAL PRISM. The total amount of seawater that flows into a bay or estuary and out again with the movement of the tide.

TIDAL WETLANDS. All areas between mean high water (MHW) and the line of non-aquatic vegetation. This includes both salt water wetlands (salt marshes) and freshwater wetlands (bogs, fresh marshes and swamps) with unrestricted tidal influence.

TIDE GATE. A water-control structure placed across a channel to stop the flow of water at high tides. TIDE GATES allow drainage of diked areas while preventing their inundation by the tides.

TOPOGRAPHY. The configuration of a surface including its relief and the position of its natural and human-made features.

TRIBUTARY STREAM. A stream feeding a larger stream or lake.

TURBIDITY. Reduction in water clarity resulting from the presence of suspended matter (e.g., sediment, detritus and plankton). TURBIDITY may decrease phytoplankton productivity, clog the gills of aquatic animals and smother sessile-benthic animals and eggs.

TYPE 1 RESTORATION. Active or passive restoration for the purpose of improvement or return to a former or original condition; the natural biological productivity and functioning of an estuarine ecosystem. This may serve as mitigation for dredge or fill in intertidal areas.

TYPE 2 RESTORATION. Active or passive restoration for the purpose of bringing back to a former or original condition the cultural, historic, economic or navigation features of an estuary.

UTILITIES. Water, sewer and gas lines; storm water and sewer outfalls; potable water treatment plants; sewage treatment plants; power lines and substations; electrical transmission lines and line support structures; antennas and microwave receivers. Industrial outfalls and industrial wastewater treatment plants are excluded from this category.

WATER-DEPENDENT. Uses and activities which can be carried out only on, in or adjacent to water because the water location or access is needed for one of the following:

WATER RELATED. Uses and activities that do not require direct water access (are not water-dependent), but which:

WATERSHED. The region draining into a river, river system or body of water.

WHARF. A structure built beside a waterway (estuary, river, stream or coastal lake) for the purpose of receiving and discharging cargo, passengers and the like. A WHARF does not include new land created on submersible or submerged land by artificial fill or deposits. (Ord. 80-2, passed 06/14/2010)