On March 11th the California Coastal Commission (Commission) rejected a request from the Point Reyes National Seashore (Seashore) to delay reporting to the Commission in April 2022 with water quality and climate action strategies as part of the General Management Plan Amendment (GMPA) for additional public review and Commission review and approval.
The Seashore requested the delay expressing concerns that the Record of Decision (to finalize the General Management Plan Amendment) was not filed until September and was followed by a lawsuit that has prevented the Seashore from being able to issue long-term leases to beef and dairy ranchers that has impacted their ability to draft water quality and climate action strategies to report to the Commission. The letter did include that the Seashore would work to achieve some of the environmental benefits into the short-term leases, including:
discontinuation of previously permitted diversification activities not identified in the GMPA ROD (e.g. no chickens without separate permit request and compliance review),
managed closure of silage on approximately 800 acres,
cessation of grazing on Allotment 4 (approximately 580 acres),
conversion of Allotment 19 to seasonal grazing only,
closure of McClure Dairy operation at I Ranch.
Several Commissioners expressed their concerns with the request by the Seashore for an extension based on the overwhelming public interest in the Seashore’s GMPA. Last year, when the Commission approved the Federal Consistency Determination, the approval was based on a narrow margin (5 to 4) in favor. The approval votes were based on the Commission Staff recommendations in the Staff Report and additional conditions that the Commissioner’s added during the public hearing.
EAC and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) coordinated our public testimony with other organizations and members of the public to push back on the request for extension. The lawsuit does not prevent the Seashore from developing a water quality and climate action strategy that are completely within the Seashore’s current authority to manage beef and dairy operations to protect water quality.
Despite concerns from Commission Staff that the Seashore may not appear in April 2022, the Commissioner’s rejected the request for a delay. If the Seashore does not appear in April, this could result in the Commission scheduling a future meeting to reconsider the Federal Consistency Determination for the GMPA.
The Coastal Commission sent out public notification on March 18th that the Seashore’s Water Quality Strategy and Climate Action Plan are scheduled for a review meeting on April 7th. We expect the Seashore’s water quality and climate strategies will be available for public review by March 25th and that the Seashore will be in attendance at the April 7th Commission meeting to uphold their commitment made to the Commission and the public a year ago.
