The Rambling Writer’s Quest for Home, part 3: Planting Mitigation and Stabilizing the Bluff

Our quest for home continues as Thor and I tackle the tangle of county requirements to stabilize the oceanfront bluff on our building site.

NOTE: People have been asking to follow our progress as Thor and I pursue our quest for our dream home with sunsets over the Salish Sea. So starting with my post of 5/21/22, we set out.

Progress has been proceeding at a snail’s pace since my last installment of 5/28. After our 4-month ordeal with the DNR to secure our 50-year lease of the property, we now have faced a seemingly endless series of bureaucratic hoops to jump through before the county and state regulations will allow our builder to submit the long-finished building plans for our dream home. Meanwhile, we take lots of picnics out to the land to enjoy the soothing sound of waves on the pebble shore and soak up the view of sea and islands.

Last time I mentioned the mitigation work that was done to restore native plants along a 50-foot buffer at the bluff edge, after the previous owner had illegally clearcut the property (he also paid a fine). Here is what some of the plantings looked like in the fall when we entered into the purchasing agreement:

By spring, we had a jungle on our hands:

The company that had done the plantings contacted us to explain the requirements to maintain the buffer zone plantings and to prepare annual reports to the county. A lot of intensive weed-whacking would be required, and since Thor had just had his third surgery of the year (shoulder replacement), and I have my own issues with cervical stenosis, we decided to be sensible and hire that company to maintain the buffer according to stringent rules. Below, Bear dog guards the area!

A work crew whacking reed canary grass and other aggressive invader plants. The workers were friendly and helpful in pointing out desirable and undesirable plants that we could address on the rest of the property.

The view toward the road, where the central fir trees are growing. Our house will be set well back from the bluff, about at the central clump of sprouting maple shoots. This is the setback that Thor had estimated, and it was confirmed with the required geo-testing as stable.

And here’s the reason for that setback and mitigation. The bluff gradually wears away from storm waves and runoff. The disastrous flooding from last autumn’s historic deluge (climate change, anyone?) also caused a slump on our bluff, partly caused also by the clearcut. Below, we used a neighbor’s steep stairs to the beach to escort an expert to evaluate mean high tide so she would sign off on that step to allow our builder to get approval to install a curtain drain to divert excess rainfall through a pipe to diffuse on boulders he will install at the base of the bluff. We’re hoping this is the last hoop before finally getting to submit the building plan for approval….

We are following the new regulations for shoreline building, but our neighbors are grandfathered in with now-illegal solutions to stabilizing the bluff. They also have lawns going right to the bluff edges, which looks rather comical on both sides of our elaborately-regulated native plant buffer. Luckily, we enjoy the native plantings.

Our setback should avoid the scary situation of many high-end houses along this stretch of high-bank shoreline. Some appear from below to be perched right at the edge.

We appreciate our neighbor allowing us to use his stairs to the beach, so we could enjoy a low tide ramble.

Then we had a bit of good news: Our new neighbor to the south learned that the county would approve trimming the bushy trees, mostly scrubby alders, that were growing on the actual slope of the bluff. If these got taller, storm winds would catch them and pull them down, causing more erosion. So trimming would strengthen the stabilizing roots and open up our views! Wow! Quite a difference now with a panoramic 180-degree view.

Thor has made excellent progress with rehab on his shoulder, and now I can’t hold him back from helping out the weeding of invasive species.

We like to take chair lawn chairs to the bluff edge for a picnic and viewing the sea. Seals like to lounge on boulders exposed during low tides, and our builder saw a large whale passing by not far offshore. And bird life abounds, including resident eagles nesting in our neighbor’s tall fir tree.

Early summer has transformed the place to a wildflower garden. We are soaking up the beauty and going with the flow.

*****

You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and a Pulpwood Queens International Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky).  Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com