Tidal waters return to Nehalem wetland after near century
Published 2:00 am Thursday, September 17, 2026
By Fox Perez/The Astorian
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Since acquiring the land in 2021, the Lower Nehalem Community Trust has been working with other agencies to bring the McCoy Marsh back to life. (Courtesy/Lower Nehalem Community Trust)
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Looking south, McCoy Marsh is currently separated from Botts Marsh and the Nehalem River through a series of dikes. (Courtesy/Lower Nehalem Community Trust)
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Restoration of the Nehalem Estuary involves breaching three perimeter dikes to restore water flow, alongside excavating approximately 1,465 feet of new tidal channel. (Courtesy/Lower Nehalem Community Trust)
Nine acres of Nehalem wetland are being reconnected to natural tidal flow for the first time after nearly a century.
North of Wheeler and once part of a larger wetland complex, this restoration will reconnect the fragmented McCoy Marsh to both the Nehalem River and Botts Marsh — a 35-acre tidal wetland situated immediately to the south.
According to the Lower Nehalem Community Trust — which owns both properties and manages them alongside local volunteers — these marshlands supply essential rearing habitat for Coho and Chinook salmon and support over 125 bird species.
According to LNCT Executive Director Emily Akdedian, tidal influence to the McCoy Marsh was cut off with the construction of the Oregon Coast Highway, which runs across the property’s northeastern border. Additionally, a perimeter was created in the mid-20th century to drain the area and to likely promote cattle grazing.
“(McCoy Marsh) used to be part of a much bigger wetland complex — and push-up dikes from the last 80 to 100 years … have isolated it from tidal cycles and from estuary processes,” Akdedian said.
The depletion of estuarine marshes represents a significant threat to local Nehalem Coho populations, according to LNCT. The estuarine spaces — where river waters blend into marine environments — offer crucial habitat, nourishment and zones for young salmon to adjust to changes in water salinity.
In essence, the estuarine marshes act as the go between, allowing the young salmon to swim back and forth from the saltwater of the Pacific Ocean to the river’s fresh water.
McCoy Marsh is positioned along the lower Nehalem River and acts as a haven for migrating juveniles, giving them their initial chance to seek shelter as they approach open waters, particularly amidst heavy storms.
The trust bought McCoy Marsh in 2021 and has been working since then to gather resources to restore it. The Technical Advisory Team guiding the restoration project includes: the Wild Salmon Center, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tillamook Estuaries Partnership and the Nehalem Bay Watershed Council. The restoration project is also supported by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Tareen Filgas Foundation.
“Through years of planning, collaboration and support, we now have an opportunity to restore natural tidal processes, improve habitat for fish and wildlife, and strengthen this important part of the estuary for ours and future generations,” said Cyndi Curtis, Wild Salmon Center Habitat Restoration manager and LNCT board member.
The project involves breaching three perimeter dikes to restore waterflow, alongside excavating approximately 1,465 feet of new tidal channel. To enhance the habitat’s complexity and foster diverse vegetation, such as scrub-shrub and Sitka spruce swamp communities, large wood structures will be installed across the channels and marsh landscape in strategic locations.
The restoration of the marsh means more than simply terraforming Nehalem marsh lands, Akdedian said, it also means fighting against climate change.
“Estuaries are significant carbon sinks. Being able to restore estuary function is a net gain for carbon sequestration … they hold an incredible amount of underground carbon.”
Opening floodplains to water exchange between the wetlands and the Nehalem River will minimize “heavier risks of flooding” by slowing the flow of the river and allowing for the river to move across the natural areas it once did, according to Akdedian.
Construction is scheduled to take place through the end of September with revegetation efforts and site monitoring continuing through the year. Restoration of Nehalem’s estuaries is a multi-year process and this is just one of many planned projects in that effort.
