May 8, 2001

STRONG OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED MARIN BAYLANDS

NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE STUDY.

The Strawberry/Greenwood Beach Waterfront Community held

a meeting on Tuesday, May 8, 2001, from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at

the Strawberry Recreation District Gym on the proposed U.S.Fish &

Wildlife Refuge study in Strawberry Channel, Greenwood Bay and

Greenwood Beach.

About 79 people attended the meeting from the

community. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Representatives in attendance were

Howard Stark, Chief, US F&W Realty Field Office , Sacramento, and

Bryan Winton, Refuge Manager, San Pablo Bay, Vallejo.; California.

Before the meeting Terry Graham, Jim Doody and Cathy Dunlap of

Strawberry took Mr. Stark on a boat tour of the Strawberry Channel

and the surrounding area to acquaint him with the local environment

They showed Mr. Stark the natural channel and informed him of the

$3 million of bonds the property owners had floated to dredge and

maintain the channel. The property owners will be paying off

these bonds for the next 25 years.

Dredging the channel reestablished water circulation

through the area and reinvigorated the return of wildlife including

seals, fish and waterfowl.

Terry Graham emceed a lively discussion which included

questions from the audience regarding the effect inclusion in the

Refuge would have on human activities such as boating,

kyacking, etc. in the area.

Several persons pointed out that this area is completely built

out and, therefore, no further development will be possible.

Another stated that the channel has been dredged since the early

1960’s and is an active boating community with many residents

owning docks and boats. Many own tide lots and all are just as

interested in protecting wildlife as is the Fish & Wildlife Service.

Also, it was noted that Richardson Bay is closed to the public

during winter months to protect birds on their flyway. In addition, it

was pointed out that a recent Richardson Bay boat and dock study

concluded that there is really very little effect on wildlife by boating

and other activity in the area.

Cathy Dunlap informed F&W representatives that lands

adjacent to the channel (Aramburu Island) are already protected by

the County of Marin as a wildlife refuge.

One resident pointed out that since the area already had

multiple layers of supervision, including the County of Marin,

BCDC, Richardson Bay Regional Agency, U.S. Army Engineers,

and the Marin Audubon Society, he didn’t think another “level

of government” was needed.

Responding to many questions, Mr. Winton listed his personal

fifteen factors that he uses in determining his individual

recommendation on whether certain properties should be included

within the boundaries of a refuge. The most important are

1) ACREAGE. Less than 50 acre parcels are often too expensive to manage; therefore, he, as a refuge manager, is usually not interested in parcels of less than that size.

2) DISTURBANCE. F&W is not interested in acquiring properties

with extraneous distractions to wildlife, such as airports,

freeways, or anything that will keep the birds from nesting.

3) VALUE. What is it’s true value as a wildlife refuge? Is it

pristine, or polluted and not suitable for wildlife in general?

. 4) MANAGEABLE. Will it be easily managed, or is it so spread

out and sparse with wildlife it would not be cost-effective to

manage?.

5) INCOMPATIBILITY. Would the refuge be compatible with the

surrounding neighborhoods, or would there be serious

conflicts?

6) PUBLIC USAGE. Would public usage such as biking, hiking,

jogging, dog-walking, navigation, etc., interfere with the

efficiency of the refuge.

7) RESTORATION. Would it respond to restoration, or would it

be too costly. to restore because of toxics, etc?

8) WILDLIFE. Would the refuge accomplish it’s purpose of

protecting wildlife, and is there wildlife to protect?

9) ACQUISITION. F&W is primarily interested in including in the

refuge property that is suitable for acquisition at some time

in the future if and when funds would become available.

10) PRICE OF ACQUISITION. Land acquired must be within the

F&W Budget. In contrasting Marin’s costs ,Winton said

that they can buy lots of refuge land for $50.00 per acre in

Nebraska.

11) PREEXISTING PUBLIC USAGE. Is the area already so

well established for. public use that it would be asking too

much of the public to give up their activities to the refuge.

When asked about dredged channels, Mr. Winton said that

USFWS Project Manager Kolar has stated she doesn’t want

dredged areas within the boundaries of the refuge.

Another concern voiced by some owners was the fact

that they were not notified of the hearings for the refuge. Of

75 property owners in Strawberry only 4 received notice of

the original hearing on this study.

At the Marin Board of Supervisor’s hearing at which the

Bay Lands Refuge study was endorsed, only three

environmental groups and one resident spoke. All spoke in

favor of the study. No property owners or other interested

parties were notified. Therefore, no property owners were

able to express their concerns.

Of the 79 people who attended the Strawberry meeting,

not one spoke in favor of being included in the study.

When one owner asked how do we get out of the study,

Mr. Winton replied, “You are stuck in the study now. You must

write lots of letters identifying your property and giving the

reasons why you want to be excluded from the refuge. Your

letters should clearly state that your desired alternative is to be

‘out of the refuge.”

Send your letters to Marshall Jones, Acting Director, U.S.

Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, 18^th & C

Street, NW, Washington, D,C. 20240. Send copies to your

federal and state legislators, and the Marin County Board of

Supervisors. Letters must be received by addressees by May 31, 2001, to be considered.

Your comments will be included in the final decision making process.

He said USFWS has three divisions: Law Enforcement, Ecological Services, and Land Management . Even Land Management is subject to Ecological Services just as are property owners.

When owners complained about past headaches they encountered dealing with regulatory agencies, he responded that even government agencies had similar problems. As an example, he explained how even Land Management, his Department often has problems with what Ecological Services requires of them..

USF&W manages 36,000 acres in the South Bay and is studying another 17,600 acres in the North Bay as part of the Baylands Refuge mapping process. Strawberry, Greenwood Bay and Greenwood Beach are all part of the Marin and Sonoma Baylands Wildlife Refuge study.

Winton stated that he manages 13,000 acres in the San Pablo Reserve and it is a difficult task since he is underfunded and understaffed.

RICHARDSON BAY ACCESS COALITION

After the close of the F&W meeting¸an organizational meeting

for the formation of the RICHARDSON BAY ACCESS

COALITION was announced by organizers Terry Graham,

Cathy Dunlap, and Miriam Doody.

The purpose of this organization is to give a voice to

those individuals who want to be heard on various issues such as

the refuge study but do not belong to viable groups to speak for

them.

Anyone interested in joining this group should call Cathy

Dunlap at (415) 388-2068 or Miriam Doody at (415) 388-7846.

E-mail address: RBAC2001@aol.com.

FORREST R. MORPHEW

Free Lance Writer

400 Greenwood Beach Road

Tiburon, CA 94920

Phone: (415) 383-1386

Fax : (415} 383-5599

E-Mail : fmorphew@msn.com