Cannon Beach's Haystack Awareness Program: N. Oregon Coast Schedule
(Cannon Beach, Oregon) - Cannon Beach's Haystack Awareness Program (HRAP) is known for a variety of things. Its most public face is when volunteers are on the beach at the Cannon Beach landmark formation helping visitors find all the interesting natural stuff. But its larger purpose is a program of stewardship and environmental education where the primary mission is protest the area. These marine gardens are packed full of a closely-entwined bird ecology and a intertidal habitat which require a kind of constant monitoring and vigilance.
The HRAP beach schedule varies greatly and is highly dependent on weather that permits volunteers to be out on the beaches – and it must coincide with low tides. The program means volunteers are at the rocks to help you find and see the myriad of tide pool wonders. Interpreters and staff are trained to assist you in that regard. They post interpretive signs, hand out educational brochures, and sometimes provide bird stations with spotting scopes and maybe even display tanks and microscopes.
They are out there daily, at low tide, but this also depends on the season. You can see the low tide schedule here (note that Cannon Beach uses the same tide tables as Seaside).
The protection aspect of the HRAP focuses on keeping the intertidal zone of Haystack Rock safe from harm, even if untended. They do this by posting various signs and keeping the public informed through their questions.
Another aspect of the beach that comes up which the HRAP wishes to address is when someone finds and injured animal or bird. Officials everywhere on the Oregon coast urge to not touch any such animal or bird. The most poignant example is baby seals, which are only resting on the beaches and not stranded or in need of human help. You can actually harm the little creature's existence as their mothers may get spooked by the human scent attached to a seal if it is touched.
Many animals lying on the beaches, whether or not in obvious signs of distress, need to be left alone. You can actually catch a nasty disease from handling such an animal. Call local authorities if you spot some critter stranded on the beach.
The Haystack Awareness Program started in 1985, and has since then educated and inspired thousands upon thousands of visitors to the north Oregon coast to learn and even continue learning about the natural resources of this special place in Cannon Beach. The program has also assisted many in the past to appreciate the natural side of their own areas at home.
See updated news about the Haystack Awareness Program here, as well as posts and updates from the Friends of Haystack Rock Facebook page. More about Cannon Beach below and at the Cannon Beach, Oregon Virtual Tour, Map.
Updates and More Schedule from the Haystack Awareness Program