Park seeks comments on Marin elk preserve fence plan

The National Park Service is accepting public comments through late September on its proposal to remove a controversial fence at the Tomales Point Elk Preserve in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The park is proposing to remove the 3-mile, 8-foot-tall fence at the southern end of the 2,600-acre preserve to allow its largest tule elk herd to become free-roaming.

The National Park Service created the preserve in 1978 to reestablish tule elk in the seashore. The fence was erected to separate the herd from private cattle ranches that lease parkland south of Tomales Point.

Removing the fence is one of three alternatives the park is considering as part of an update to its 1998 Tomales Point Management Plan, which outlines the management practices of the herd.

The park’s preferred alternative would remove the preserve fence and consider adding a fence to keep cattle from private ranches in the park from entering Tomales Point. The park would also collaborate with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in the management of the Tomales Point peninsula.

“The proposed action includes removal of the tule elk fence and all temporary water systems installed during the most recent drought, monitoring and management options for tule elk, and potential opportunities to improve recreational uses and visitor experience at the historic Pierce Ranch,” the agency said in a statement this month.

The other two alternatives would retain the fence, with one alternative allowing park staff to cull some of the elk in the Tomales Point herd to regulate its population. The park’s preferred alternative does not include elk culling.

The park will accept comments until 10:59 p.m. Sept. 25. Comments can be submitted online at parkplanning.nps.gov/tpap or by sending a letter to Tomales Point Area Plan c/o Superintendent, Point Reyes National Seashore, 1 Bear Valley Road, Point Reyes Station, 94956.

The park service said it will not accept bulk comments submitted on behalf of other people or comments sent by fax, email or USB drive.

The agency will hold an online public meeting on the proposal from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 7. Attendees can receive the meeting link by registering online at bit.ly/3P5PtDl.

Melanie Gunn, a park official, said the agency will use the public comments to draft an environmental assessment, which is expected to be released next summer. The public will have an opportunity to provide comments on the assessment before the park makes a final decision in the summer or fall of 2024.

The preserve has become a focal point in a debate and in litigation regarding the park’s management of its tule elk herds and private cattle ranches. Opponents of continued ranching have called for the park service to remove the tule elk fence and the ranches. Ranchers and their supporters are urging the park service to keep the fence up to prevent conflicts with cattle operations, including competition for grass forage that is required for organic certification.

The park is proposing to update its Tomales Point management plan in response to recent droughts that caused die-offs within the preserve. The herd declined from 445 elk to 292 elk between the winters of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. About 250 elk in the herd died from 2013 to 2015. The droughts prompted the park service to make the unprecedented decision to place supplementary water tanks and minerals in the preserve. The herd had 262 elk during the last count in the winter of 2022-23.

“Current management guidance for this area did not anticipate these drought conditions or consider climate change,” the park service said when it announced its proposal in June.

Following the recent die-off, the Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic filed a lawsuit against the park service on behalf of activists alleging the park was neglectful in its management of the elk herd. The case was dismissed in federal court but the decision was appealed.

“Hundreds of tule elk at Tomales Point have suffered starvation, dehydration, and death because the National Park Service’s fence has blocked them from getting enough food and water during historic drought conditions,” the Harvard clinic’s director Rachel Mathews said in an email. “The service’s long-overdue proposal to remove the fence is the most humane and reasonable solution and could not come soon enough for the elk.”

The Point Reyes Seashore Ranchers Association, which represents ranching families in the seashore, states the park’s 1998 management plan already assessed removing the fence and found it could be done “only after ranching activities terminate.”

The park service approved a ranch management plan in 2021 that would allow it to extend ranching leases from five-year terms to up to 20-year terms.

“Here, drought conditions are new. Protecting ranch lands from elk impacts is not new,” the association wrote to the park service in June. “Removing or altering the fence is not appropriate or allowable. Fence removal was fully evaluated in 1998.”

The Resource Renewal Institute, an environmental organization in Fairfax, is one of the plaintiffs that has sued the park service to challenge the ranch lease extensions.

The institute’s programs director, Chance Cutrano, who also serves on the Fairfax Town Council, said his organization will submit comments “to ensure the tule elk will be protected in a manner that protects that population’s health, safety and ecological integrity.”

“The real thing is how to make sure as many people as possible are aware of the opportunity to comment on this potential future for the tule elk herd, which has been one of the main focal points for management of the seashore, especially with the die-offs in the recent drought years.”

More information about the Tomales Point plan update is online at go.nps.gov/pore/tpap.