It
ain’t over till it’s over….
Yogi
In February of 2002 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service released five Proposed Marin Baylands National Wildlife Refuge Alternatives. By April 5thpublic comments are due back to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on which alternative you prefer. They will use those comments to release their Draft Plan to the public in the Summer of 2002. If you haven’t responded, you must do so in the next two weeks.
A sample of my letter follows. Please copy, adding your own words and concerns, and express your choice of alternatives and send your letter. The five ‘Alternatives’ are summarized after my letter and a sample draft letter.
A sample of the letter I
will send follows:
Dwayne Hunn
359 Jean St.
Mill Valley, Ca 94941
415-383-7880, 383-0806 (fax) attila@myexcel.com
3-21-02
Cathy Osugi, Wildlife
Biologist
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (NWRS/RPL)
911 NE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97232-4181
Fax: (503) 231-6161
Re: Marin Baylands
Proposed Alternatives
Dear Ms. Osugi:
Having been
involved with developing affordable housing, transit solutions and land development
in Marin for over 20 years, I write urging you to implement Alternative 5 (no
action).
Too often groups
assuming an environmental banner have used innocent and well-intentioned
government programs, such as yours, to harass logical, well-intentioned land
development. The hassles continue for
so long that the chance to provide affordable housing and environmentally
sound, oil-saving, transit solutions disappears in the prolonged political
fray.
Any lands you put
into the well-intentioned Marin Baylands category will suffer a similar
fate. Therefore, I urge you to support
the no-action Alternative 5 and use the money saved to improve your program in
other areas during this budget tightening time. We live in an era where keeping police and firemen affordably
housed near to their work and reducing our reliance on foreign oil is
especially important. Alternative 5
allows that to happen more easily than any other proposal.
If unfortunately
you do not choose Alternative 5, I hope you choose Alternative 1 and leave all
the large parcels, such as St. Vincent’s / Silveira and Canalways, which have
the potential to address some of Marin’s critical housing and transit needs,
unencumbered.
Sincerely,
Dwayne Hunn
The five proposed draft alternatives are:
Alternative 1 is approximately 3,655 acres,
is the smallest of the Marin Baylands alternatives and is the minimum land area
for refuge management purposes. Alternative 1 is a contiguous block of habitat
including Bel Marin Keys V, a portion of the former Hamilton Army Airfield,
wastewater spray fields, and St. Vincent’s/Silveira properties east of the
railroad tracks.
Alternative 2 is approximately 4,396
acres and includes all land in alternative 1 plus the wetlands of McGinnis
Park, Santa Venetia Marsh Open Space Preserve, the tidal marsh north of China
Camp State Park, the tidal marsh at the San Rafael Quarry, and tidelands south
of Quarry.
Alternative 3 is approximately 5,924 acres and includes all land in
alternative 2 plus the State Lands Commission antenna field north of Bel Marin
Keys, seasonal marshes west of Deer Island Open Space Preserve, and seasonal
marshes in the Olive Avenue/Atherton Avenue area, wetlands of Bahia and Rush
Creek Open Space Preserve, and seasonal wetlands west of Rush Creek Open Space
Preserve and north of Bahia.
Alternative 4 is approximately 8,424 acres and includes all land in alternative 3
plus the uplands of Bahia and Deer Island Open Space Preserve, spray fields and
seasonal wetlands north of Highway 37, spray fields and uplands south of
Highway 37, Pacheco Pond and diked bayland north of the Pond, tidal marsh and
diked bayland along the San Rafael shoreline, tidal marsh and baylands near the
Corte Madera Ecological Reserve, tidal marsh in and near Bothin Marsh Open
Space Preserve, and a small marsh east of the Richardson Bay bridge.
Alternative 5 is the no-action alternative. The Marin Baylands National Wildlife
Refuge would not be established. Future protection or development within
wildlife habitats would be regulated through existing land-use regulatory
controls administered by local agencies, Marin County the State California and Federal
agencies.
In order to continue having an impact on the final plan proposed for the Baylands, you need to continue making you desires known via mail, fax, phone. (The USFWS has had its internet connection disconnected due to a court mandate).
How Do you Provide Comments?
We encourage you to comment
on the preliminary alternatives. Please send
written comments by April 5,2002, via mail
or fax to:
Cathy Osugi, Wildlife Biologist
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (NWRS/RPL)
911 NE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97232-4181
Fax: (503) 231-6161
If you would like your
letter posted on the Canalways web site where you can refer others to see it
and copy it, send it as an attachment to Dwayne Hunn (attila@myexcel.com) and I will post it on
the Canalways website: (https://canalways.tripod.com/).
Simple suggested letter:
To Cathy Osugi:
Write your personal feelings
on the alternatives and your property.
Then list the alternatives
and rank them in your order of preference. (For example, some strongly feel that the
federal government should leave the land use controls to existing local and
state agencies. Their letter, and you
letter, should include a ranking of alternatives, such as:)
This is my recommendation as
to which alternative you should use in rank preference.
Rank- first through fifth
preference Alternatives offered
1
Alternative 5 no action
2
Alternative 1 -- 3,655 acres
3
Alternative 2 -- 4,396 acres
4
Alternative 3 – 5,924 acres
5
Alternative 4 – 8,424 acres
Or you might say something
like:
Alternative 5 is my first
preference. Thereafter, only Alternative 1 is acceptable to me.
Please keep me informed on
these issues of concern
Sincerely
Joe & Mary Smith
More information on the
Marin Baylands project is available at the Canalways Web Page https://canalways.tripod.com/