It’s mid-summer and the equestrian community could hardly wait another day to regain access to the Stewart Horse Camp in Olema, the primary campground with access to the Point Reyes National Seashore that is available to horses for overnight stays.
Last Saturday, the owner of neighboring Five Brooks Ranch, Andrew Loose, officially reopened the camp after signing a temporary, two-year concessionaire agreement with the park service. Up to 100 horses and 100 people can now stay at the campground on any day of the week until the rainy season begins.
Last November, the park announced that Amanda Wisby—a fourth-generation rancher on the land—had decided to end her contract for the seasonal camp. Her family, the Stewarts, had run the campground for nearly 50 years and had been operating on a one-year extension after its 10-year concessionaire agreement expired in 2018.
That extension was unrelated to the general management plan amendment the park is currently preparing to define lease terms for ranchers in the seashore, considering the camp is outside of the park’s planning area and that concessions have their own set of policies.
Mr. Loose, who has run Five Brooks, a 35-horse operation that offers trail rides, for the past three decades, was excited to step in and manage the campground. “I’m proud and honored to be able to keep up this legacy of the Stewart family,” he said. “They really created this icon for the horse community in California. For months since they closed, we have been getting calls from all over, Canada and the East Coast, from people wondering when the camp would be open again.”
The park service still plans to go through a formal process to put the concession out to bid for a longer-term permit, though park spokeswoman Melanie Gunn said the details of that timing and the length of the permit were still in flux.
Mr. Loose received the current, short-termed agreement without competition, he said, given that he was willing and that his horse operation is less than a mile down Highway 1. He said he doesn’t plan to change much to the campground, which has restrooms, showers, firepits, picnic tables and access to a wide network of trails. He does anticipate a new reservation system to come online within the next few weeks. Because it was the preference of the Stewart family, Mr. Loose will also change the name of the camp to “Five Brooks Horse Camp.”
The Stewart family has a long history on the land, which housed a dairy ranch since the mid-1800s. The horse camp and neighboring 2,188-acre cattle ranch were most recently operated by Ms. Wisby and her husband, Quincy Campbell. They continue to operate the ranch, though their lease is contingent on the general management plan amendment, for which a draft environmental impact statement is expected next month.