Dear California Colleagues (and others working on California projects), I am working to support an effort where I live in Marin County, California, to provide consistent resource management and more protected space for wildlife by removing the current "special exemption" that allows waterfowl hunting within the Tomales Bay Ecological Reserve (TBER). The state's Ecological Reserve system was created to protect wildlife, but the politics of the early 1970s resulted in a local backlash where hunters rallied Sacramento successfully to allow hunting in the Reserve. Times have changed, and now hunting is banned from the adjacent Giacomini Wetlands. Waterbirds entering the wetlands fly right into the sights of hunters allowed in the narrows of the southern Ecological Reserve lands adjacent to the north of the Giacomini Wetlands. The vast majority of state Ecological Reserves do not allow any take at all within their boundaries.
I am hoping you can join Dr. Mary Griffin, Dr. John Pearse, Dr. John Kelley, Jules Evens, and others to add your name to the Scientists' Support Letter about the issue, The letter is pasted in below my signature. You must agree to some conditions with the letter stipulated by scientist co-signers - that the Letter not be shared directly with the media and that co-signers are all listed alphabetically so that no one scientist serves as a "lead" or focal role. Simply reply w your name and affiliation as a written confirmation to add your name. I sincerely hope you can sign in support. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns (contact info at bottom). Cheers, Chris Chris Pincetich, Ph.D. Outreach & Education Manager Turtle Island Restoration Network California Fish and Game Commission 1416 Ninth Street, Room 1320 Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Fish and Game Commission, The undersigned scientists and naturalists recognize the connectivity and importance of the wetland habitats within the Giacomini Marsh Wetlands Restoration Site (GMWRS) and adjacent Tomales Bay Ecological Reserve (TBER) in providing breeding and overwintering habitat for at least 94 native bird species (National Park Service files). Therefore, in order to provide continuity of the management of waterfowl and other species across these areas at the southern end of Tomales Bay, we support an end to hunting of waterfowl in the TBER. This action would uphold the original intention of TBER to provide protection for wildlife species and also benefit the ongoing monitoring of the wetland restoration site. “The ecological reserve system, authorized by the California Legislature in 1968, is designed to conserve areas for the protection of rare plants, animals and habitats, and to provide areas for education and scientific research.” — Outdoor California, December-January 2001(p.3) http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/articles/docs/ecores1.pdf The vast majority of the seventeen State Ecological Reserves in the San Francisco Bay/Delta Region prohibit hunting (13 of 17 in Region 3) and provide effective refuge for wildlife. Tomales Bay was designated as a “Wetland of International Importance” by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (September 30, 2002) due to its importance for wintering waterfowl and other birds, and it is one of the six most biologically diverse areas in the U.S. The federally endangered California Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) is present in the TBER and the state-threatened Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus) has been documented nesting there. The TBER supports 13 endangered and threatened species, 74 waterbird species, bald eagles, ospreys, peregrine falcons, merlins and river otters. The original intent of the creation of the TBER was to provide wildlife refuge, an intent that should be respected and restored. The 483-acre TBER was established in October 1973 to protect the wildlife within a wetlands refuge that banned hunting, but a special exemption to allow waterfowl hunting was granted in April of 1974. In 2000, the National Park Service (NPS) acquired the adjacent 550-acre Waldo Giacomini Ranch. In 2008, NPS completed wetland restoration construction work and began population monitoring of waterbirds that use the newly created habitat. The GMWRS project increased the extent of wetlands within Tomales Bay by over 50% and eliminated waterfowl hunting in this southernmost reach of the Bay. The peak bird use period of these interconnected wetlands is mid-November to mid-February, with many waterbirds commuting through TBER to GMWRS during peak hunting season (allowed 100 days, Oct. 20, 2012 – Jan. 27 2013). Waterfowl hunting within TBER conflicts with the NPS wildlife management policy within adjacent GMWRS. The disruptive influence of hunting in TBER could be significantly undermining data gathering efforts at GMWRS. The disturbance caused by hunting undermines the goals of the restoration projects and the original intent of the establishment of TBER.We urge the Fish & Game Commission to support action to remedy the current situation, either through reversal of the exemption that allows hunting in the TBER, through new policy prohibiting hunting within the TBER, or through transfer of wildlife management responsibility within the TBER to federal oversight such as that provided in the neighboring GMWRS. Sincerely, Peter R. Baye, Ph.D., Coastal Ecologist, Annapolis, California Giacomo Bernardi, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz Jules Evens, Principal, Avocet Research Associates, Point Reyes Station, California Frances Gulland, Vet. M.D., Ph.D., Senior Scientist, The Marine Mammal Center, California Martin Griffin, M.D.; Founder, Audubon Canyon Ranch, Environmental Forum of Marin; author, Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast, California Megan Isadore, Naturalist, Co-Founder & Director, Outreach and Education, River Otter Ecology Project, Forest Knolls, California John P. Kelly, Ph.D., Director, Conservation Science, Audubon Canyon Ranch, California Jeff Miller, Director, Alameda Creek Alliance, Inverness, California Joe Mueller, M.S., Professor of Marine Biology, Director of Bolinas Marine Laboratory, College of Marin, California John Pearse, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California, Santa Cruz Christopher Pincetich, Ph.D., Turtle Island Restoration Network, Forest Knolls, California Peter Pyle, Biologist, The Institute for Bird Populations, Point Reyes Station, California Russell Ridge, M.A., Biology Professor Emeritus, College of Marin, California David Wimpfheimer, Professional Naturalist, Inverness, California Chris Pincetich, Ph.D. Outreach & Education Manager Turtle Island Restoration Network [email protected] (415) 663-8590, ext. 102 P.O. Box 370, Forest Knolls, CA 94933 USA Location: 9255 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Olema, CA 94950 STRP * www.seaturtles.org SPAWN * www.spawnusa.org GotMercury * www.gotmercury.org Shark Stewards * www.sharkstewards.org Let's spend World Ocean Day on leatherback nesting beaches in Costa Rica! We'll assist sea turtle and marine debris research. Join me on a unique eco-tour to benefit two non-profits in Costa Rica June 2-8, 2013 http://www.seethewild.org/541/63/costa-rica-leatherbacks-marine-debris-research.html
