Elegant Letter

philip a. richardson

May 29, 2001

Mr. Marshall Jones

Acting Director

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Department of the Interior

18^th and C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

Re: Proposed Marin Baylands National Wildlife Refuge

Dear Mr. Jones:

The residents of Greenwood Beach Road are not in favor of the tidelands in front of their property being included in the proposed Marin Baylands National Wildlife Refuge study. It has been told to us by your agency’s representative that the sole purpose for the study is to allow Federal funding to be available for areas studied that would not be available for areas that are not studied. We know of no need for Federal funds for our baylands.

Our tidelands are underwater except at extreme low tide and do not support any vegetation. Therefore, their habitat use is negligible.

We have a private group, the Audubon Society, overseeing this area of the bay. They own tidelands at one end of our neighborhood and deny boat use in their area of ownership from September through March. This is accepted by the community because there is very little boating activity in upper Richardson Bay.

The County of Marin has recently completed a study that concluded that no specific problems exist in our tidelands area.

The migratory birds were numerous in our area in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, but since then their appearance is rare. This seems to have coincided with the removal of a sewage outfall in our immediate waterfront.

We see no reason for the Baylands study to include the Richardson Bay area at all. It is our understanding that issues have arisen due to the Hamilton Air Force Base decommissioning and the purchase in that area of marshlands by the Coastal Conservancy. It seems inappropriate to throw a whole blanket of control over the entire Marin County baylands to address a problem in the Novato area.

We realize that it is common for the environmental community to overreach and attempt to include large areas of the country in issues which may have significance in only one locality. This is power and it fits their modus operandi. We would hope the Federal government can resist this pressure and address itself to the problems of consequence.

To conclude, our baylands are stable water area not subject to any significant boating activity, not utilized by the bird population, overseen by the Audubon Society, and not in any need of financial assistance. Therefore, we respectfully request that this area of the Marin shoreline not be considered in any of the alternatives of your Baylands study.

Sincerely,

Philip Richardson

Philip A. Richardson

CC:

Marge Kolar, Project Mgr. USFWS

Mike Spear, Regional Director USF&WS

Dan Ashe, USF&WS , Regional Refuge Director

Charles Houghten, USFWS, National Refuge Director

Novato Council

San Rafael Chamber

Congresswoman Woolsey

Senators Feinstein & Boxer

Marin & Sonoma Supervisors

Bay Planning Coalition

San Rafael Council Members

Assemblyman Joe Nation

418 Greenwood Beach road, tiburon, california

94920-2215