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Drakes Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore is pictured in\u00a02020. The 17,000 acres of former ranch land above\u00a0the beach present an extraordinary possibility for conservation.<\/p>\n
Paul Chinn\/The Chronicle<\/p>\n
We are causing an extinction crisis.<\/p>\n
By some estimates, species are disappearing\u00a0up to 1,000 times<\/a> more rapidly than the baseline rate. Habitat loss due to human activities, like livestock agriculture, is among the biggest reasons. Real opportunities to do something about it are rare.<\/p>\n Yet we have one such chance in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Point Reyes National Seashore, the only national seashore on the West Coast, is less than an hour from the Golden Gate Bridge. It supports extraordinary diversity, and its location in the Bay Area provides an accessible oasis for people seeking nature.<\/p>\n Recently, 17,000 acres of the seashore were vacated by ranches and dairies, presenting an extraordinary possibility in conservation: recovering the ecological integrity of a large, publicly owned coastal landscape.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Large portions of these formerly grazed lands are depleted, eroded and inundated by invasive species. Creeks are polluted and channelized. The land is scarred by hundreds of miles of barbed wire fences and riddled with decaying cattle\u00a0feed pads, manure lagoons and other ranch paraphernalia.<\/p>\n Habitat restoration is hard work: Methods include invasive plant control, planting native plants, removal of abandoned infrastructure, waterway correction, erosion control and species reintroduction.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The last item on that list is particularly intriguing at Point Reyes.<\/p>\n A recent report<\/a> by Turtle Island Restoration Network, where I serve as executive director, explores the feasibility and benefits of reintroducing seven mammal species to Point Reyes: beavers, sea otters, pronghorns, pine martens, fishers, porcupines and ground squirrels.<\/p>\n Some of these animals\u00a0\u2014 including sea otters\u00a0\u2014 are well-documented historically in or around Point Reyes. Their regional declines resulted from a mixture of commercial trapping, habitat alteration, persecution and pest control.<\/p>\n Ground squirrels, for example, were considered\u00a0rodentia non grata because of their burrows; cattle might step into them and break their legs.<\/p>\n What\u2019s intriguing about the reintroduction tool is its dual, self-accelerating nature. When replacing a banished species in a recovering wilderness, you are repairing the worn fabric of that area. This is a direct, additive restoration of species richness and food-web complexity\u00a0\u2014 the forces that support the beauty and resilience of nature.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Beavers, for example, create fire-resistant wetlands, improve water storage, reduce erosion and create refugia for salmonids such as the endangered Central California coho. Several of the seashore\u2019s creeks\u00a0historically supported fish species that returned from the ocean to spawn, but their populations have been heavily degraded.<\/p>\n Sea otters help to maintain eelgrass and kelp forests, which support fisheries, biodiversity and carbon storage. Reintroducing them to Point Reyes is bound to improve estuarine health. They could also mitigate the serious impact of the invasive European green crab.<\/p>\n There is scarce evidence that pronghorn, an antelope-like animal, were historically present on the Point Reyes peninsula. And they do not succeed well in landscapes transected by cattle fencing. However, they are browsers who feed on broadleaf weeds and would complement the seashore\u2019s tule elk population, grazers who eat mostly grass. Elk and pronghorn together may extinguish the perceived need for conservation cattle grazing in the seashore, planned as a stopgap to control invasive plants left unchecked after the departure of ranches.<\/p>\n Even relatively uncharismatic ground squirrels are ecosystem engineers with known benefits. Their digs are used by burrowing owls, a species recently granted candidacy for the California Endangered Species Act. Burrowing owls used to nest in Point Reyes, but haven\u2019t for several decades.<\/p>\n Reintroductions are not panacean. Nature is more complicated than I may be implying. Bringing back a species sometimes fails or has unintended consequences.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n For example, the celebrated recovery of the elephant seal population is suspected to have swollen the numbers of great white sharks, which, in turn, is thought to restrict otters\u2019 spread north of Pigeon Point through the gauntlet known as the red triangle.<\/p>\n Another real challenge here is the orange elephant in the room: Until the next presidential election, any progress will have to overcome a Trump administration Department of the Interior that is rabidly hostile to nature herself.<\/p>\n One positive of prospective change is that, by law, the National Park Service must consider these measures.<\/p>\n The Organic Act of 1916, which inaugurated the park service, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (thank you, Dick Nixon), the Point Reyes National Seashore Enabling Legislation and the Wilderness and Clean Water Acts all bolster the case. Park service management policies <\/a>instruct the agency to strive, \u201cwhenever feasible,\u201d to restore native species that were extirpated by past human-caused actions.<\/p>\n The National Park Service is shockingly underfunded and will need help. Its annual discretionary budget is $2.1 billion, a meager amount for \u201cAmerica\u2019s best idea.\u201d For comparison, the war in Iran \u2014 not one of our better ideas \u2014 has\u00a0cost $29 billion<\/a> since February in operational expenses alone, the Pentagon said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But the restoration of Point Reyes, including\u00a0reintroductions, can succeed if relevant\u00a0Top of Formagencies actively engage, coordinate and commit resources. And if conservation groups, Native tribes, scientists and local communities work together with shared goals.<\/p>\n Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight<\/strong> are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect<\/strong> the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.<\/p>\n