Letter to the Editor: Pt. Reyes Seashore Should be Protected From Development

By Lynn Hamilton

I am shocked to see the misleading signs regarding Drakes Bay Oyster Company popping up around Sonoma and Marin counties. These signs should say Save Point Reyes Wilderness.

I strongly support organic sustainable agriculture and I love oysters but the attempt by Drakes Oyster Company and their corporate allies to deny wilderness status to Drakes Estero has nothing to do with farming and everything to do with opening publicly owned wilderness lands to development.

Pt. Reyes National Seashore is a wonderful example of cooperation between agriculture, the national park system, and wilderness. My family, friends, and thousands of people worked for years to protect this national treasure. The current owners bought Drakes Bay Oyster Company in 2005 with seven years remaining on their permit knowing that the estero is a designated wilderness area.

They should honor their lease agreement and contracts, follow the rules and policies and respect the 1976 wilderness designation. This is not an issue of "farmer" vs big government. The real issue here is that private development and industry interests have been working for years to overturn environmental laws and allow natural resource extraction and commercial development in the wilderness areas, national parks, oceans, estuaries and other publicly owned and protected lands.

As a member of the public, one of the millions of owners of the Point Reyes National Seashore, I urge all Americans to protect Drakes Estero wilderness and stop the attempt to privatize and commercialize our national park and wilderness systems by powerful private business interests. American taxpayers have been waiting 40 years for wilderness designation for Drakes Bay marine estuary in our beloved Point Reyes National Seashore.

We stand firm in protecting the National Parks, wilderness, publicly owned lands and commonwealth of the United States of America for future generations. We will not be fooled by another attempt by special interests with friends in high places to attack the National Park Service and subvert the Wilderness Act!

Please let any restaurant or business displaying one of these signs or serving Drakes Bay oysters know that you support our National Parks, the law and wilderness designation for Drakes Estero in Pt. Reyes National Seashore.
 
Lynn Hamilton is the former mayor of Sebastopol and lives in Occidental.