A Smaller Pack: Changing River Mouth

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Changing River Mouth

This past week Nora and I took the dogs for a walk at Buskin Beach. It was my first visit to the beach since the big rain event and storm a week ago. And WOW! The river mouth has changed dramatically.

Through time the river mouth has always changed. It has migrated back and forth along the beach. Sometimes entering the sea at the airport end of the beach and at other times at the end near town. In the 1915 photo from below that was taken from near the top of Barometer Mountain you can see that the river mouth at that time was near where the end of the runway is today. And it looks like there was an old Alutiiq Village at that locality too. I have also found an old site and evidence for an old river mouth along the steep bank to the west of the parking lot. So it has entered the bay on that side too.

When I moved here the river mouth cut right through where there is now a beach berm and entered the bay a lot closer to the airport runway. I have watched it slowly cut into the beach in front of the parking lot and move further and further west towards town. As it moved it built a big berm on the right bank between it and the ocean.

The last couple of years it started to eat into the beach in front of the Buskin Beach House. Then last week with the flood and storm it finally bulled its way through all the sand and gravel, and now the mouth points directly towards town. Pretty soon I think there there will be a long spit on the ocean side of the river and very little beach along the shore on the landward side.

In the top photo you can see the new berm on the ocean side of the river. I think that is now going to get bigger and bigger. Unless there is another big storm that moves all the gravel and sand - I think the new river mouth is back to the town side of the beach.

Patrick