STATE OF CALIFORNIA - NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION 455 MARKET STREET, SUITE 300 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105-2219 FAX (415) 904-5200 TDD (415) 904-5400 Th6b CD 0006-20 (National Park Service) December 18, 2021 CORRESPONDENCE (received as of December 18, 2021) PART 2 PAGES 156 - 433 CD-0006-20 CORRESPONDENCE From: Laura Cunningham <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 9, 2020 8:03 PM To: Simon, Larry@Coastal <[email protected]>; Coastal Point Reyes Management Plan <[email protected]> Cc: Weber, John@Coastal <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Comment on the Coastal Consistency Determination reviewed by the California Coastal Commission for the Proposed Point Reyes National Seashore General Management Plan Amendment CD-0006-20 Please accept these comments by Western Watersheds Project and other groups and individuals who have spent time in Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area observing impacts of cattle grazing to coastal resources and public access. Superintendent Feirabend, please add this comment to the administrative record for the General Plan amendment/Environmental Impact Statement review process public comments. Thank you. -- Laura Cunningham California Director Western Watersheds Project Cima CA 92323 Mailing address: PO Box 70 Beatty NV 89003 (775) 513-1280 156 CD-0006-20 CORRESPONDENCE Larry Simon Manager, Federal Consistency Unit Energy, Ocean Resources and Federal Consistency Division California Coastal Commission 455 Market Street, Suite 228 San Francisco, CA 94105-2219 (415) 904-5288 [email protected] Via email: [email protected] CC: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] December 9, 2020 RE: Coastal Consistency Determination by the California Coastal Commission for the Proposed Point Reyes National Seashore General Management Plan Amendment CD-0006-20 Dear Mr. Simon, In accordance with the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and its implementing regulations 15 CFR 930, the National Park Service (NPS) submitted a Coastal Consistency Determination for the Point Reyes National Seashore and North District Golden Gate National Recreation Area General Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement (GMPA/EIS). Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity (Center) have evaluated the Consistency Determination and found it inconsistent with the California Coastal Act of 1976 as amended. This is an urgent matter, as a special hearing will be held by the California Coastal Commission (Commission) exclusively for this Consistency Determination CD- 0006-20 on Thursday January 14, 2021. 157 CD-0006-20 CORRESPONDENCE The Coastal Commission has two choices: it can concur with the park service’s submitted Consistency Determination or it can object to it based on its inconsistency, “to the maximum extent practicable,” with the California Coastal Act. Having participated extensively in the National Park Service GMPA/EIS process, gathered evidence extensively in the field in the Seashore and adjacent recreation area, and reviewed the Consistency Determination with a close eye, we strongly recommend the Commission object and find the document inconsistent with the laws that protect our coast. We understand that the Point Reyes National Seashore lands and one-quarter-mile strip of tidal lands are not directly within the state coastal zone because of federal ownership, but cattle ranching activities are having a large and long-lasting indirect impact on coastal zone areas as described below. While these areas are outside the coastal zone, many of the actions proposed under the NPS Preferred Alternative to expand commercial agriculture would affect uses and resources that are part of the state’s coastal zone. Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives, and legal advocacy. The following comments are being submitted on behalf of our members and supporters who closely track livestock grazing issues on public lands and who care about the conservation of those lands for watersheds health and wildlife habitat, and many of whom visit Point Reyes National Seashore regularly. The Center is a nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and supporters, dedicated to the protection of native species and their habitats through science, policy, and environmental law. The Center has expertise on protection of endangered species, cattle ranching impacts on the environment, management of federal public lands, and implementation of federal environmental protection laws. The Center has been working to protect native wildlife and other environmental resources of the Bay Area for more than two decades. The many undersigned local groups and individuals have observed huge impacts from cattle grazing to Point Reyes National Seashore and request that the Commission carefully examine the evidence to these public lands and waters. The National Park Service Plan is Inconsistent with the Provisions of the California Coastal Act. The federal consistency determination analyzes consistency between policy sections of the California Coastal Act (Division 20, California Public Resources Code) and the actions that would be authorized under the park service’s Preferred Alternative of the GMPA/EIS. The points of inconsistency follow: 1. Dairies and beef operations are not economically viable. NPS claims certain policies under the California Coastal Act are NOT applicable to their proposal (NPS Coastal Consistency Determination 2020 at 24): Article 5–Land Resources Section 30241.5 - Agricultural land; determination of viability of uses; economic 2 158 CD-0006-20 CORRESPONDENCE feasibility evaluation. Specifically, this entails submittal of an economic feasibility evaluation by the local government—here the National Park Service as landowner and manager, if the local agricultural uses are not viable. This includes an analysis of gross revenue of agricultural products, and operational expenses for the past five years. Not only is there a “milk glut” in Marin County and the US in general,12345 causing the price of dairy products to often fall short of profitability, but the very agricultural diversification program preferred in the GMPA/EIS is a prop that allows non-viable livestock operations currently in Point Reyes National Seashore to diversify into chickens, sheep, goats, AirBnB’s, row crops, “ranch tours”, and more, that are a misguided taxpayer subsidy to a few ranch operators on public land in order to boost their meager revenues. Therefore, we strongly disagree that NPS does not need to provide the Commission with an economic analysis. The Preferred Alternative is an admitted economic boost and a giveaway to the faltering local livestock economy along the coast. Dairies and beef operations are not economically viable. Taxpayers should not have to subsidize private commercial livestock operations on this rare coastal public land. 2. The NPS Preferred Alternative of maintaining and diversifying commercial agriculture does not maximize public access to the coast. Article 2–Public Access, Section 30210 Access; recreational opportunities; posting. In carrying out the requirement of Section 4 of Article X of the California Constitution, maximum access, which shall be conspicuously posted, and recreational opportunities shall be provided for all the people… Maximum access for all the people is prevented by NPS maintaining barbed-wire fences, wooden fences and gates, and metal pipe fences to contain cattle, and drastically increasing fencing in its plan to divide ranches into Ranch Core, Pasture, and Range Subzones. NPS says in its Coastal Consistency Determination at 14: “The NPS assumes approximately 20% of the 340 miles of existing fencing would be replaced, 24 miles of fence would be installed for the Resource Protection subzone, and an additional 35 miles of new fence would be constructed to improve livestock management over the 20-year lease/permit term. The NPS anticipates up to 5 Fencing projects annually.” That is an increase in fencing from 340 miles currently to 399 under the NPS proposed plan. In addition, NPS proposes to increase ranch fencing to exclude native tule elk from cattle pastures. Most park visitors are not used to jumping over barbed-wire fences to get to the Pacific Ocean, or crawling through a barbed-wire fence and ripping clothing. This is not inclusive especially for underserved communities and urban populations seeking to explore and access nature and the Pacific Ocean in a National Park unit within the Bay Area. “Conspicuously posted” access is also under question, as park visitors have reported to us signs on some Point Reyes National Seashore cattle 1 https://thecounter.org/dairy-farms-decline-half-since-2003-usda/ 2 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/style/milk-dairy-marketing.html?referringSource=articleShare 3 https://legacy.northbaybusinessjournal.com/opinion/8666012-181/marin-sonoma-dairy-farming-organic- economics 4 https://www.marinij.com/2018/08/09/marin-voice-market-forces-threaten-west-marins-dairy-farms/ 5 https://www.dairyherd.com/article/go-dairy-loss-mitigation-mode-now 3 159 CD-0006-20 CORRESPONDENCE operation leases that appear to claim “no trespassing”