Commander visits prospective beach project
Greg Fuderer
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Col. Kim Colloton, who assumes command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District tomorrow, visited Encinitas and Solana Beach on Tuesday in preparation for a July 30 study presentation to the Corps’ Civil Works Review Board in Washington, D.C. “For her to be able to come here and become familiar with our beaches, to see firsthand what the issues are, what our concerns are and what the project really means to us, that means a lot,” said Mike Nichols, the mayor of Solana Beach. What it means is that Colloton has established face-to-face contact with two Southern California towns whose shoreline integrity and long-term viability may depend significantly on the outcome of the board’s decision on whether to approve the study and forward it for state and agency reviews. In the last 15 to 20 years, the Solana Beach-Encinitas shoreline has experience accelerated erosion of the beaches and coastal bluffs. As a result, when bluffs collapse because of direct wave attack, damages occur to bluff top structures, private structures and public infrastructure. The loss of beach has also severely degrades recreational opportunities, and the loss of beach combines with the undercutting bluff erosion to create dangerous overhangs, a serious public hazard. Colloton will present the shoreline restoration study to the Review Board, a critical step in determining whether it advances to project status. “The visit did just what it was supposed to do,” said Josephine Axt, chief of the district’s Planning Division. “It got Col. Colloton talking at length with the sponsors and the city managers from both cities, and she got to go out and, as they say, ‘touch the resource.’ We went to three access points, and she got to see the different ways bluff failures have been handled from 50 years ago when you didn’t have any regulations and you just had a cement wall, to what the Coastal Commission has recently permitted.”
Phyllis Trabold, District outdoor recreation planner, arranged for the delivery of 700 “Bobber” water safety give-away items to the Bas Pro Shops store in Rancho Cucamonga for the purpose of emphasizing water and boating safety during Bass Pro Shops “Family Summer Camp” campaign from June 8 to July 14. (Photo by USACE)
Kristen Skopeck
Corps, Bass Pro Shops unite to promote water safety
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District teamed up with Bass Pro Shops in Southern California to hand out materials emphasizing water and boating safety during the outdoor recreation retailer’s “Family Summer Camp” campaign that ran from June 8 to July 14. The effort stemmed from the Corps and Bass Pro Shops signing a partnership agreement in late 2012 to develop projects nationally to improve fish habitat and water and boater safety education. Phyllis Trabold, District outdoor recreation planner, arranged for the delivery of 700 “Bobber” water safety giveaway items to the store in Rancho Cucamonga. Bobber, the Corps’ water safety mascot, is a large brown dog who is always seen wearing a bright orange life vest. “I wanted to make sure the items were in the store before the July fourth holiday, so they had the potential of reaching more people, especially boaters headed to the Colorado River,” Trabold said. “Although many of the District’s basins are dry, we are still concerned about water safety at our basins that offer boating.” Trabold added that the project was an excellent opportunity for interacting with and educating people in San Bernardino County who may know little or nothing about the Corps’ missions in Southern California, as well as providing a positive reinforcement for children about water safety and
wearing life jackets. The partnership agreement’s priority projects for 2013 include: develop and provide water safety and recreation activities, educational items, and messages for use in all 56 Bass Pro shops stores during their Summer Fun Camps, Great Outdoor Days, and other in-store programs for 2013; include water safety messages in the DVDs that go to every new boat owner in all the Bass Pro Shops boat lines; work together to support the National Fish Habitat; and, work together on events such as the CAST for Kids Fishing and Take a Warrior Fishing, with Bass Pro providing sponsorship. The agreement, called a Memorandum of Understanding, was signed by John Morris, owner and founder of Bass Pro Shops; Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody, commander, Mississippi Valley Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Kula, commander, Southwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Col. Anthony C. Funkhouser, commander, Northwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Corps parks and lakes serve more than 370 million visitors every year. With Bass Pro Shops serving more than 75 million customers a year, many of whom recreate on Corps lakes, this partnership provides a great opportunity for a line of communication to the public,” Kula said. “These statistics not only show the great recreation value that the Army Corps of Engineers brings to the nation, but also the challenges that we face as one of the nation’s largest providers of recreation.”
Encinitas Mayor Mike Nichols, Solana Beach Deputy Mayor Lisa Shaffer, Col. Kim Colloton and Encinitas General Manager David Ott (l to r) tour bluffs along the two coastal towns in preparation for an upcoming Civil Works Review Board presentation. (Photo by Greg Fuderer) “Letting her know what the local conditions are is very important,” said David Ott, the city manager for Solana Beach. “She’s going to be making the majority of the presentation at the board, so it’s a significant improvement over having to go by just a PowerPoint presentation without having the locals’ i