Issue 43 | December 2024
| Great news to kick off the New Year: Thanks to many years of hard work by the Center and allies, in December the National Park Service announced that the elk-killing cattle fence at the Point Reyes National Seashore will be taken down. Removing the fence will allow the unique tule elk in the park to roam free and thrive. It’s the latest development in a long saga to protect the biodiversity and wildlife of these public lands. To dive deeper, this month I spoke to my Center colleague Jeff Miller, who has fought for the elk for years. Jeff is the author of a new book, Bay Area Wildlife: An Irreverent Guide (grab a copy for yourself).  |
| Jennifer Molidor: What was the impact of the fence on the tule elk, and what led to its removal? Jeff Miller: The Tomales Point elk fence — or the Ungulate Berlin Wall, as I like to call it — trapped elk herds on a peninsula that lacked adequate water and forage during drought years, causing massive die-offs of elk. Tomales Point elk were managed like zoo animals rather than the iconic, endemic totems of Point Reyes that they are. Public outrage and comments, protests, and lawsuits finally forced the Park Service to agree to remove the elk-killing fence and allow elk to be elk and roam naturally. The Park Service finalized a Tomales Point plan that allowed fence removal in November and in December removed a few hundred yards of fencing to allow elk to move freely, making the remainder of the fence irrelevant.  |
| Jennifer M.: Why is Point Reyes — or West Marin generally — such an important place for imperiled and endemic wildlife? Jeff M.: Point Reyes features prominently in my Bay Area wildlife guide because it’s such a biodiversity wonderland. There were heroic battles in the 1960s and 1970s that saved much of West Marin from sprawl development. In addition to the tule elk, Point Reyes has quite a few other wildlife comeback stories. The blubbery behemoths known as northern elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction in the 1800s and were absent from our coast for 150 years — now there are more than 3,000 elephant seals breeding on Point Reyes beaches. Peregrine falcons, the raptors I call “screaming death parrots,” almost went extinct because of DDT. A heroic recovery and reintroduction effort helped peregrines rebound from only two pairs in all of California to around 50 breeding pairs in the Bay Area alone today, with quite a few peregrine territories in Point Reyes. Point Reyes is one of the best places to encounter river otters, dubbed “aquatic death weasels” for their efficient takedowns of large brown pelicans. And West Marin creeks host the last remaining viable Bay Area spawning runs of coho salmon, whose epic migrations and dramatic spawning behaviors inspire us to restore our watersheds. Wandering around Point Reyes, you can encounter badgers, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, long-tailed weasels, leopard sharks and bat rays, burrowing owls, and nearly five hundred other species of birds. It’s a truly magical place. Jennifer M.: What happens next? Jeff M.: The Cattlemen’s Association sued to try to stop the fence removal, and further work is on hold until a court hearing. We’re intervening, and rest assured: That fence will not go back up — the Tomales Point elk have already won their freedom. We also have active litigation over the park management of the 20-year commercial grazing leases (that were supposed to expire in the 1980s and 1990s) and treatment of the free-ranging elk herds. We’ve been in settlement negotiations with the Park Service and ranchers for two and a half years, and a conservation organization is attempting to buy out and retire the ranches. Jennifer M.: Your guide has been described as funny, punchy insights into charismatic animals like chocolate tarantulas and nudibranchs (whom you describe as “disco slugs dressed for a P-Funk concert”). What do you hope people enjoy about the book? Jeff M.: It’s got “irreverent” in the title, so that’s a hint about the tone, but there actually is a lot of reverence and respect for our animal neighbors in the book. It really is a love poem to the natural world of the Bay Area and a paean to our wildlife neighbors in the region. It’s a treasure map for regional wildlife, a practical guide to finding, encountering and understanding the Bay Area’s most interesting and unusual wild animals. I intended it as an antidote to dry nature guides and scholarly ecology papers, with stories that hopefully inspire people to get out into our parks and open spaces to connect with special critters and places, find their kinship with wild animals, and join conservation efforts for these species. It’s beautifully illustrated by famed artist/eco-philosopher Obi Kauffman, with photos of each species from local wildlife photographers and published by Heyday Books in Berkeley. You can order the book and follow my events and exploits on the Irreverent Naturalist website. Jennifer M.: Thank you, Jeff! Learn more: Webpage about the Center’s work: Protecting Point Reyes Elk From Ranchers Case Study: Grazing at Point Reyes Factsheet: A Guide to the Impact of Beef Production on Wildlife Center statement and FAQ on cattle grazing |
 For the wild, Jennifer Molidor Senior Food Campaigner Population and Sustainability Program Center for Biological Diversity |