Take Down the Fence!

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Point Reyes National Seashore is asking the public to submit comments on its Tomales Point Area Plan Environmental Assessment. The National park Service heard our previous comments and outcries about the elk, and are now proposing to take down the elk fence at Tomales Point! Thank them in your comments.

This plan will update the management guidance of this wilderness-designated peninsula, including management of the tule elk herd in this region of the park. The plan will review cultural and natural resources, management considerations in wilderness, and visitor use and access. 

• Thank the National Park Service for proposing to take down the elk exclusion fence at the Tomales Elk Reserve, to allow tule elk to be free to connect with free-roaming herds and find adequate water during droughts.
• Request that the Seashore block cattle in existing dairies adjacent to the Tomales elk fence from entering Tomales Point, by using a wildlife-friendly smooth-wire fence, or by removing cattle from the portions of the ranch-lease adjacent to Tomales Point to allow elk free movement throughout the Seashore.
• Restore coastal prairies and reduce invasive plants which are coming from dairy silage fields and manure dumping next to Tomales Point.
• The Philip Burton Wilderness Area in Tomales Point would greatly benefit from the elk fence being removed, to allow elk to be free and "untrammeled." The current elk fence traps wildlife in an area that makes the animals suffer during California's recent droughts. We support the removal of this elk-proof fence, to allow the elk to wander freely and naturally to find adequate fresh water and forage in the Seashore.
• Point Reyes National Seashore is public land where rare California coastal wildlife should take precedence over commercial for-profit livestock operations. We want to see open, wild, natural landscapes full of wildlife that are not hindered by fences and artificial management that caters to commercial interests.