The Tomales Point elk fence is one step closer to coming down, an outcome long awaited by environmentalists but dreaded by ranchers and dairymen in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

In an environmental assessment released on Monday, the National Park Service concluded that removing the three-mile fence would boost the health of the tule elk herd, enhance the wilderness character of the park and improve the experience of visitors to the seashore.

“The removal of the fence would benefit the Tomales Point tule elk by allowing elk to access additional habitat, increasing population resilience during drought, and thereby promoting more natural population cycles,” the environmental assessment states.

The public comment period for the proposed Tomales Point Area Plan opened this week and runs through June 5. Park officials will host an online informational session on May 22.

Opponents of the fence maintain that it has deprived elk of food and water, causing mass die-offs during droughts. But dairymen and cattle ranchers argue that the fence is essential to preventing elk from encroaching on forage intended for their herds.

The environmental assessment considered three alternatives. The first would maintain the status quo, leaving the fence in place and providing supplemental water and mineral licks for the herd as needed but otherwise keeping management to a minimum. 

The second option—the  park’s preferred approach—calls for removing the fence and water tanks, which were installed during recent droughts, when the population of the herd plummeted. The elk would be able to range throughout the seashore, availing themselves of additional forage and natural water sources.

Under the third option, the fence would remain in place, the water tanks would be removed, and the herd would be culled   when it exceeds a certain size. 

The park service’s preferred option includes changes to camping along Tomales Bay. Under the proposal, campers would have to reserve specific sites to avoid areas of historical and cultural importance to the Coast Miwok.

The Tomales Point Area Plan marks the first update to the park’s elk policies since 1998. At that time, the population threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the reserve, and the park adopted a plan that led to the relocation of 28 elk to a wilderness area near Limantour Estero. Within a few years, some of those elk appeared on cow pastures near Drakes Beach, setting up a clash with nearby ranching and dairying operations. 

The environmental assessment predicts that many of the elk in the northern part of the Tomales Point reserve would remain there even if the fence came down. But those that congregate at the southern end of the reserve would eventually migrate into other areas of the park. They would connect with the free-ranging herds, increasing the potential for genetic diversity among elk that have been contained behind the fence.

According to the most recent tallies, there are at least 315 elk in the Tomales Point herd, 188 in the Limantour herd, and 199 in the Drakes Beach herd. If the fence is removed, the assessment states, the seashore’s combined free-ranging herds would total just over 700 elk but could balloon to about 2,800 animals in about 20 years. 

“Given the lack of predators and the need to keep the elk within the seashore, population management would be needed at some point in the future, likely beyond the 20-year range,” the assessment states.

Elk that leave Tomales Point would be managed in the same manner as elk in the Limantour herd. That management approach, outlined in a 2021 amendment to the park’s general management plan, does not set a population limit but does allow for the lethal removal of individual elk as a last resort to stop new herds from forming on ranchlands. In contrast, the park set a population limit of 140 for the Drakes Beach herd.

The general management plan update was challenged in court by three environmental nonprofits that have demanded an end to ranching and dairying in the park. They have also protested lethal culling, which the park suspended while parties engage in settlement talks.

Although ranchers have long argued that removing the fence would lead to the end of their operations, the environmental assessment states that the short-term impact on ranching would be minor.

“The potential impact of the removal of the fence on the rest of the Seashore would be anticipated to be similar to those of the existing free-range herds, which have not been found to significantly impact other resources, including historic ranching operations,” the assessment states.

Park officials say the Tomales Point plan is necessary to address changing conditions wrought by climate change, including intense periods of drought. They announced the update shortly after another lawsuit was filed against the park, this one demanding the removal of the elk fence.

One of the plaintiffs in that suit, Jack Gescheidt, welcomed the results of the environmental assessment. 

“It’s a long overdue first big step,” he said. “But the fence is just one branch of the park’s bigger, root problem: thousands of cows fouling the land, air and water, and hundreds more miles of cattle fences blocking public access to 28,000 acres—land that should be cattle-free and re-wilded.”

The park formulated its plan in consultation with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a federally recognized tribe whose ancestral territory includes the seashore. The two parties would employ controlled burns and other traditional vegetation management techniques to improve the health of native plant species.

Preserving tribal resources and values is among the central objectives of the plan, which does not identify specific areas of cultural importance to the tribe. As a result, the plan would change the system for reserving boat-in campsites on Tomales Bay beaches. Currently, campers who book space can pitch their tents anywhere along the bay. In the future, they would have to book specific sites to ensure that they don’t disturb areas of importance to the tribe.

The proposed plan also calls for improvements to make the Pierce Point Ranch more welcoming to visitors, including upgraded parking options and a new spur trail from the Tomales Point Trail to viewpoints overlooking the bay. The start of the trail would be rerouted to direct hikers through the ranch compound, where informational signs would be updated to include Coastal Miwok history.

California’s native tule elk had nearly vanished when the state reintroduced them to sites across the state, including to Tomales Point in 1978. During recent droughts, some elk in the reserve grew sick and died. Activists staged protests and demanded the removal of the fence, and the park began delivering water and mineral licks. 

Under the park’s proposed management plan, water tanks installed during the drought would be removed, as would newer fencing installed in several small areas of Tomales Point to study the impact of elk on the area’s vegetation.

Eighty-five percent of the 2,900-acre planning area is part of the Phillip Burton Wilderness, the only federally designated wilderness in the Bay Area. A central objective of the plan is to promote the area’s “wilderness character.”

The environmental assessment states that under the park’s preferred approach for managing Tomales Point, “the untrammeled, natural, and undeveloped qualities of wilderness character would be meaningfully improved.”

The park service conducted the environmental assessment to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. It will issue its final decision on the plan later this summer, after reviewing public comments.

To read the plan and the environmental assessment, and to register for the online informational session, visit https://tinyurl.com/tpapinfo