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A migrating inlet
Leadbetter Point and Cape Shoalwater flank the opening of Willapa Bay. Without jetties to stabilize a tidal channel, these two areas change continually as tidal channels shift and migrate. Leadbetter Point has grown northward, as the entrance to Willapa Bay has moved north through time.
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Leadbetter Point:
a shifting spit
From 1887 to 1965, the shifting sands at Leadbetter Point migrated into Willapa Bay.
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Two tidal channels
Over 100 years ago, there were two tidal channels in Willapa Bay. Shoals dotted the area in between Leadbetter Point and Cape Shoalwater.
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Large shoals,
one tidal channel
By 1911, one deep tidal channel had carved into Cape Shoalwater, causing rapid erosion. Large shoals had formed off the end of Leadbetter Point.
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Changing habitat
The tip of Leadbetter Point is part of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. Nearly 11,000 acres of the refuge have been lost to erosion since 1937. Accreting beaches on Leadbetter Point have provided nesting habitat for the Snowy Plover, an endangered shorebird. Over 330 acres of sand dunes, potential nesting habitat for the Snowy Plover, have disappeared from Cape Shoalwater over the decades.
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Sources:
Washington State Recovery Plan for the Snowy Plover, Willapa National Refuge Files based on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maps, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Illustrations redrawn from The Pacific Northwest Coast: Living With The Shores of Oregon and Washington, Paul Komar. Original illustrations based on Terich and Levenseller, 1986.
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