Don’t Fence Me In!

Give the tule elk a chance: Tell the Park Service you support Alternative B!

Point Reyes National Seashore is the only national park where tule elk exist.

In 1978, the NPS reintroduced ten of California’s last surviving tule elk to the National Seashore. Once hailed as a historic conservation victory, the recovering tule elk at Tomales Point have struggled. For decades, scientists forewarned that forage and water were insufficient for the confined herd to thrive. As predicted, hundreds of elk have suffered and died during two historic droughts over the last decade.

Today, several hundred tule elk call the park home, and 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 reliable forage and water sources.

Thanks to years of advice and environmental activism from folks like you, the National Park Service (NPS) is now proposing a new management direction for the Tomales Point Area and the elk that call it home. If adopted, their preferred action – Alternative B – would remove the elk fence and free the confined herd at last.

We are making a difference.

With your help, our campaign has helped to generate over 25,000 comment letters received in the summer of 2023 and over 4,000 comment letters during civic engagement in the spring of 2022. A 2023 public comment analysis conducted by RRI staff and volunteers found that the public overwhelmingly supported removal of the elk fence at Tomales Point!

Based on our collective advocacy efforts, Alternative B includes many of the important requests we made during the 2023 Scoping Comment period including:

1. Removal of the 3-mile elk-fence to allow tule elk to seek new foreage and water in times of drought or stressed resources  

2. Improvement habitat connectivity for the Seashore’s various tule elk herds to support greater genetic diversity necessary for their long-term health and survival

3. Coordination and co-management of the area’s natural and cultural resources with Tribal partners

4. Provision of new interpretive signage and educational programming developed in coordination with and presented with Tribal partners

5. Employment of prescribed fire and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to protect and steward native plant communities and habitat for tule elk

6. Upgraded visitor amenities such as parking areas, restrooms, and trails - including improvements to the Tomales Point and McClures Beach trails

7. Refinement of boat-in campsite policies to protect natural and cultural resource along Tomales Bay

8. Preservation and maintenance of the overall wilderness character of the Phillip Burton Wilderness at Tomales Point

The Park Service needs to hear from you one final time!

We are at a crucial turning point for our Seashore and we need your help. This is your final opportunity to tell the NPS you support Alternative B, their proposal to remove the elk fence and let the tule elk herd roam free! An additional 30-day public review and comment period on their plan is open and will end on Wednesday, June 5, 2023.

Please take a few minutes and, in your own words, write the National Park Service and reaffirm your support for Alternative B, the only alternative that meets the Park Service’s mission and goals.

When you send in your comments, be sure to thank the NPS for the steps they taken thus far, and include the some following suggestions for how NPS can fine-tune Alternative B or introduce some of your own:

1. Provide a timeline for the actions proposed in Alternative B, including the approximate timeline for the removal of the elk fence.

2. Identify any sites where native coastal prairies or wetlands have been degraded or lost due to human activities within the planning area and restore them to their pre-disturbance conditions.

3. Where possible identify future activities for volunteers, and/or new ways that the public can participate in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) process to help contain the spread of invasive species (for example, invasive plant identification and control training and/or volunteer days).

4. In the appropriate areas, provide additional wayside signage and environmental education programming for interpreting the natural and cultural history of the planning area, including the ecological, cultural and historical significance of tule elk at Tomales Point.

5. Ensure the Final Environmental Assessment captures NPS best management practices (BMPs) and mitigation actions to occur prior, during, and after construction associated with foreseen parking reconfiguration, visitor facilities, utility work, etc., in the planning area to minimize immediate and long-term impacts to wildlife.

A final decision on the Tomales Point Area Plan is expected in the summer 2024.

Comments must be received on June 5, 2024 by 10:59 pm Pacific Time.

Use ONLY this online form when submitting your comment: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=136861

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.