Covering the Fights for the Soul of the Oregon Coast
By Matt Love
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In 1913 Oregon Governor Oswald West said of the state’s beaches: “No local selfish interest should be permitted, through politics or otherwise, to destroy or even impair this great birthright of our people.”
With similar passion for protecting Oregon’s “great birthright,” in 2003, Nestucca Spit Press published Grasping Wastrels vs. Beaches Forever Inc.: Covering the Fights for the Soul of the Oregon Coast, a collection of essays by Matt Love and Part One of his Beaver State Trilogy.
In the collection, Love takes a provocative and participatory approach when investigating some of the lost, ignored or forgotten stories about preserving the Oregon Coast. Among the essays are: the untold history of the state’s famed 1967 Beach Bill, a thank you to Bob Straub for his heroic victory over a proposed beach highway, how a hippie couple defeated a coastal nuclear power plant, a reflection on the Bayocean resort debacle, accounts of the botched opportunities to preserve undeveloped coastal property, and the uncovering of the failed attempt to establish a national park on the South Oregon Coast. The 98-page book also includes photographs, a bibliography and four bonus essays stored in a library pocket inside the back cover.