General Management Plan Amendment: Draft Environmental
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Point Reyes National Seashore General Management Plan Amendment Draft Environmental Impact Statement Correspondence Initial Public Scoping Comments February 2018 All correspondence received during the initial public scoping comment period is presented in this machine-readable and text-searchable PDF. This file contains all of the correspondence that was entered into the National Park Service's Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website, including transcriptions of correspondence received via comment card, postal mail, or hand delivery. This document has been modified to exclude any personal identifying information of individuals such as street address, email address, or telephone numbers. To search for a desired name or content, open and use the Find tool in your PDF reader. If you have any questions or would like a copy of any correspondence in its original form, please contact Melanie Gunn at 415-464-5131. # 1 Name: Gervais, Kathy Correspondence: The Tule elk is a California native and they were almost brought to extinction. Their recovery is wonderful. If the Pt Reyes herd is getting too big then translocate some of it to another state or national park in California. Do not kill to cull. We need to live with wildlife to make our ecosystem thrive. I am also hoping bears start visiting the park from the north. ___________________________ # 2 Name: Ruff, Carla Correspondence: I support 20 year leases for ranchers in Point Reyes/Inverness. ___________________________ # 3 Name: Holden, Chris Correspondence: Please extend the leases. They support local restaurants and provide income to the federal government. This is the first time I posted comments. I wished I posted them when the oyster farm was up for comment before it closed. ___________________________ # 4 Name: N/A, N/A Correspondence: 1)Road througyhpark, now a State HW, needs maintainance.I do not underdtand why this is road is not a NPS road. Please maintain the road. 2) 20 Year leases withoug a limit mean ranches forever. Current lease holders, children, grand children. A leaselimit might be in order.I see no notice of inspection, no notice of enforcement. What are the enforcement mecananisms? 3) I am opposed to beef cattle within park boundaries 4) I am in favor of Tule Elk. 5) No newsletter was received as of October 19, 2017, only the notice letter. No presentation of alternative plans, no NPS preferred plan presented. "NPS refubews concept range ... " Where do I find this material? Certainly not in the GMP amendment letter. 6) No resource strategy presented Please make such a presention ___________________________ # 5 Name: N/A, Tristan Correspondence: I support continued ranching and dairying in the planning area. The Planning Area should be used and seen as a laboratory for range management. The Park Service should consider, from an ecological perspective, the cattle as one population and make decisions based on that understanding. The elk should be seen as the Park Service's herd. Decisions on culling should be reached based off a planning area-wide grazing plan that coordinates with operators in the interest of ecosystem health. A percentage of each ranch that elk inhabit could then be calculated for elk use and lease fees adjusted accordingly and grazing monitoring could account for that. The Park Service should maintain some level of control to manage and rest pastures as part of a planning area- wide grazing plan. The Park Service and operators should consider the ecological and economic implications of running all the cattle as one herd. Operators should be required, encouraged or incentivized to develop holistic management plans that focus on ecosystem health, pasture rotation, soil building and native biodiversity. Operators who willingly participate in experiments including grazing regimes, breed selection and using elk as part of holistic grazing practice should be publicly commended and potentially rewarded. The public should be kept apprised of all management methods and decisions. Resources and scholarly articles should be made easily accessible regarding the role of grazing in Coastal Prairie and California Annual Grasslands. A webpage should be made and outreach should focus on educating the public about the financial realities of managing the land, the elk and the infrastructure without operators. Operators who would like to host school groups and educational tours should be publicly commended or potentially rewarded. ___________________________ # 6 Name: B, Douglas Correspondence: How can Point Reyes protect and manage the diverse and important natural and cultural resources in the planning area? Are there opportunities that could enhance future stewardship in the planning area? Ranching and Tule Elk are both an inextricable part of what makes Point Reyes a unique, beautiful, environmentally and culturally important region. At the same time however, each has an impact on the park and on each other. The spread of Johne's Disease is one example of how the interaction of cattle and elk may be harmful to both. The NPS and Ranchers stand to benefit from collaboration and have a shared interest in ensuring adequate separation between domestic cattle and wild elk. I don’t know what that solution looks like but it may include repair and/or improvement of fencing, vaccination of cattle and elk (if effective/feasible), testing of cattle prior to import to the park lands or other solution. What types of visitor experiences, activities, and facilities should be available in the planning area? I would advocate for an expanded partnership between farms and the national park service, to enhance the experience of visitors to the area and expand public knowledge of what ranching is, how it works, and what ranchers can do to be good stewards of the land. For instance, while kiosks and informational boards throughout the park already highlight the history of places like Pierce Point Ranch, maybe there are opportunities for interaction between the public and working ranches. I’d like to see opportunities for school children, visitors, volunteers, and others to learn about and appreciate what life is like on a working ranch. This may be achieved through tours, guided hikes, volunteer opportunities like those provided through WWOOF, etc. What types of specific strategies can/should be considered for managing agricultural lease/permits? There should be "good neighbor" policies (environmental, aesthetic, historical preservation, etc.) that both ranchers and NPS agree to. We must be explicit about our goals and define acceptable, measurable thresholds for environmental contaminants, water quality, soil impacts and sediment generation, etc. These performance standards and quantifiable thresholds should be defined for all parties. Leases/permits should also specify what qualifies as agricultural operations, and what are acceptable agricultural process (use of pesticides, location of feeding and watering locations, etc.) ___________________________ # 7 Name: B, K Correspondence: Dear NPS, I strongly support the proposal to faze out all forms of ranching (dairy/beef) and agriculture in the Point Reyes National Sea Shore as shown on page 4 of the "Point Reyes National Seashore General Management Plan Amendment Newsletter_508 Compliant updated.pdf." Due to the history and nostalgia of ranching in the area, I wasn't solidified in my position until I read all twelve pages and got to page 10, Tule Elk Background. The fact that we're comparing numbers of elk of about 300 animals against 6,000 beef cattle and that we humans extirpated the populations of native Tule elk down to ten members belies an out-of-balance human/non-human ratio of fauna. I strongly believe we need to make more room for other living creatures and the habits they depend on. And, with the known impacts of meat consumption on climate change, our own habitat depends on us reducing our meat consumption as well. Thank you for listening and please to everything in your power to reduce human impact on the earth and its other living creatures. Sincerely, KB ___________________________ # 8 Name: Hoffman, Philip C Correspondence: Dear Sirs, Please keep the ranching leases at 5 years. The problems with the removal of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company from the Drakes Estero should be a lesson learned. The mission for the park is to promote the natural resources of the Point Reyes peninsula over private business. Ranching, has shown to be at odds with the Tule Elk herd and other predators to cattle. Extending the leases to 20 years will only further entrench the ranching operations and their sense of entitlement. A compromise could be, to remove ranching from the PORE peninsula entirely and have LONG TERM ranching exclusively on the EAST SIDE of Highway 1, in refurbished ranches. The ranching would extend from Olema to Wilkins ranch, at the north end of Bolinas bay. The grazing cattle herds would create fire breaks along Bolinas Ridge which are now disappearing for lack of grazing. The resulting dairy products could continue be sold commercially and also at the appropriate sites throughout the park. The Tule elk herd,coyotes, sea otters, etc... could live unmolested on the PORE peninsula without having to compete with ranching. The public would have a rare view of something unique to California, if not the country, and the ranchers could pursue ranching in the appropriate areas. ___________________________ # 9 Name: McConnell, Joseph A Correspondence: My comment includes favoring the continuance of the current management plan with ongoing leases to dairy ranchers and with the attempted NPS effort to confine the Tule Elk herd to the Limantour Wilderness Area as much as possible- -in other words to prevent the Tule Elk from despoiling the feed of the dairy ranches. Respectfully submitted. ___________________________ # 10 Name: Witt, Virginia Correspondence: I am writing, as a local property owner and citizen, in support of the "initial proposal" to allow ranching to continue on Point Reyes. I believe strongly in both the historic value of the ranches to our community, in their importance as family anchors and as job creators, as well as contributors to the agricultural abundance of West Marin.