The Story of Maylor Point
In 1978, the US Army Corps installed a variety of hard armor as a “Low Cost Shore Protection” experiment along this feeder bluff located between Maylor Point and Forbes Point on Whidbey Island. Most of this armoring failed in a storm in 1979 and only timber posts and tires remained. These, along with concrete and other debris, interrupted the transport of natural sediment and covered valuable habitat along 1,500 ft of shoreline.
Image credit: Army Corps of Engineers
This project helped to restore feeder bluff processes and uncover 38,000 ft² of buried shoreline habitat. Construction began in late September 2018, and was completed October 15, 2018. A landing craft transported equipment and materials and removed a variety of hard armor including:
- 1,300 tires, 185 chemically-treated timber posts and 165 treated planks
- 5,600 concrete ‘pillows’
- 1,100 cubic yards of large armor stone and boulders
- 225 cubic yards of small angular rock
Monitoring of the site for biological and physical changes has continued since the project was completed. Just 6 months post-(de)construction, the Navy’s monitoring program found forage fish eggs across the entire 1,500 feet length of restored shoreline!
COLLABORATORS: This project made possible thanks to Island County Marine Resources Committee, Naval Air Station Whidbey, Coastal Geologic Services, and Neptune Marine of Anacortes.
BEFORE AFTER
Tire Wall
Creosote Wall
Concrete Pillows
FUNDERS: Funding support provided by the Habitat Strategic Initiative/Marine & Nearshore Grant Program (EPA/WDFW/DNR); US Fish & Wildlife Service Coastal Program; Puget Sound Acquisition & Restoration Program; and the Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program.