Public Comment Period on Point Reyes Elk Fence Now Open

Friends,

It’s time to dust off your keyboards and make your thoughts known! 

For the first time in 25 years, the National Park Service (NPS) will be rewriting its management plan for the Tomales Point Area and the fenced-in tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore.

For decades misguided park policies have condemned hundreds of tule elk to zoo-like conditions behind an 8-foot fence at the northern end of the Point Reyes peninsula. Cut off from adequate forage and water, hundreds of elk have perished in recent years. We now have the opportunity to change the course of elk management at the Seashore. Read on to find out how to submit your comments to the Park Service.

How did this happen?

A half million tule elk once roamed California, but overhunting by white settlers pushed them to the brink of extinction. In an effort to save the species, ten elk were reintroduced to their former territory on the Point Reyes peninsula. Today, there are an estimated 5,000 tule elk on the planet, and Point Reyes National Seashore is the only national park where they exist.

As of 2023, several hundred tule elk call the park home, but their long-term survival remains tenuous. Half the those within the National Seashore are confined to the 2,900-acre Tule Elk Reserve at Tomales Point, where a 3-mile-long fence excludes them from pastures and reliable water sources leased to commercial ranching operations. For decades, scientists have forewarned that forage and water were insufficient for the confined herd to thrive. As predicted, hundreds of elk have suffered and died during recent droughts. 

Now we’re at an inflection point. 

For nearly a decade, wildlife and public lands advocates have played a major role in exposing the inhumane conditions these captive elk have endured, and the Park Service has finally taken notice. Their new Tomales Point Plan is a long-overdue chance to reclaim the future for the elk, based not on politics, but on sound science and a commitment to responsible action. The NPS’s “Preferred Alternative,” (Alternative B), would remove the elk fence,freeing the tule elk and creating new recreational opportunities for park visitors.

How to make sure your voice heard

This is your opportunity to tell the NPS you support Alternative B, their proposal to remove the elk fence, and let the tule elk herds roam free. 

But Alternative B is about more than the elk fence. Review the public Scoping Document for the Tomales Point Area Plan here. The plan will cover the management of other important cultural and natural resources in the Tomales Point Area like habitat restoration and trail improvements. 

For example, you may ask the NPS to evaluate opportunities and strategies to:

1. Ensure cattle do not enter the wilderness area once the 8-foot elk fence is removed;

2. Enhance and restore habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife within the planning area;

3. Develop fire management practices within the planning area to maintain healthy ecosystems and natural processes;

4. Inventory and restore native coastal prairies within the planning area;

5. Assess climate-related impacts on water resources and native vegetation within the planning area;

6. Increase public access, use and enjoyment via new trails, camping, and other activities that integrate the planning area into a parkwide trail network

7. Expand public education and interpretation of Native American culture and history in consultation with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and other descendants of Coast Miwok inhabitants;

8. Improve public education and interpretation about the Tomales Point elk and their role in the ecology of the Point Reyes peninsula.

Review the Resource Renewal Institute’s previously submitted Tomales Point Area Plan Pre-Scoping Comments for additional examples of the types of comments that can help the Park Service focus its analysis.

Comments must be received by midnight on September 25, 2023. 

Use ONLY this online form when submitting your comment.  https://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=131377

Or deliver your comment in writing via US Postal Service or by hand to:

Tomales Point Area Plan
c/o Superintendent Point Reyes National Seashore
1 Bear Valley Road Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

PLEASE NOTE: Comments will not be accepted by fax, email, USB drive, or any other way other than those specified above. Bulk comments submitted on behalf of others in any form are not accepted.

Together we can #RestorePointReyes