text: Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher seen as 'scary' « Sparsely Sage and Timely
  Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher seen as 'scary'
  Posted by DavidMitchell under agriculture, General News, Inverness, West Marin nature
  "[Point Reyes National Seashore Supt.] Don Neubacher has all the control over all of us out on the point, and we know that, and it's scary." — Kevin Lunny, oyster grower and cattle rancher
  A symbolic depiction by Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) of official 'Cruelty' toward common people.
  When the Inspector General's Office of the Interior Department confirmed two weeks ago that Neubacher and park senior science advisor Sarah Allen had misled county supervisors and the public about Drakes Bay Oyster Company, the press reported the fact but unfortunately ignored the surrounding issues:
  • The Inspector General's report is far more critical of Neubacher and Allen than one might think from the spin park officials and their friends have put on it.
  • All the press reported Lunny had been initially unwilling to sign a use permit with the park for his oyster company, but only The San Francisco Chronicle even hinted at why: initial drafts of the permit agreement would have ultimately put him out of business.
  • None of the press took time to look into Neubacher's trying to harm the Lunny family's beef operation (on historic G Ranch) in retaliation for Lunny's lining up widespread support for his oyster company. Not only did the park superintendent try to sabotage the acclaim their beef ranch was receiving, the Lunny family found themselves in protracted negotiations with his administration over renewal of the ranch's lease. The Inspector General said it hadn't found evidence of retaliation but failed to investigate some of Lunny's key complaints.
  Future postings will provide a closer look at what the Inspector General actually revealed about the park's war against Drakes Bay Oyster Company. This week's posting looks at merely one of the many ways Supt. Neubacher has harassed the Lunny family.
  The story begins in 2006. Lunny (left), who is active in Marin Organic, wanted to be able to promote the fact that as a rancher he is a good "steward of the land," so he applied for certification from an organization called Salmon Safe. The Oregon-based nonprofit issues certificates to agricultural operations that use their land in a sustainable fashion, preventing erosion and avoiding pollution of waterways.
  Salmon Safe, which had never before certified a livestock operation in California as sustainable, investigated Lunny's beef ranch for a day in late 2006. Two weeks later, the organization certified his ranch as sustainable with hearty congratulations for being the state's first. (Since that time, Mike and Sally Gale's beef ranch in Chileno Valley and a few vegetable farms have also been certified.)
  "We expected the Park Service to be thrilled that one of its ranches met the Salmon Safe certification requirements," Lunny told me last week, "but Neubacher called Salmon Safe's executive director and said, 'You absolutely cannot certify this ranch.'" Lunny said Neubacher accused his family of being "good actors" who were, in fact, "overgrazing."
  Lunny also claims Neubacher told Salmon Safe's executive director, "This is my park, and you will not certify any ranch in this park without my permission."
  Salmon Safe executive director Dan Kent declined to relate Neubacher's comments but noted that after the park superintendent's call, the organization put Lunny's certification on hold until his ranch could be inspected again.
  In early 2007, Salmon Safe's investigators flew in for a second review. In order for the National Seashore to show the investigators its concerns, "the Park Service was going to send a representative," Lunny recalled, "but the Park Service didn't show up."
  The investigators then called the park's range specialist, Lunny said, but "he said he was too busy to show up." The investigators, however, finally got the park to send a list of complaints. None of them held up. For example:
  • The park had complained about piles of plastic left over from covering fermenting silage, but Lunny pointed out that the plastic is hauled off and "recycled two or three times per year."
  • The park had complained that the Lunnys mowed their silage too low, but investigators found the grass was two feet high. In addition, Lunny uses a "no-till drill" to plant grass seed, so the humus mat of his pasture does not erode.
  • The park accused Lunny of not having a fence between his pasture and Drakes Estero, where he grows his oysters. In fact, none of the ranches along the estero have such a fence yet cattle seldom go near the water, he said.
  Following the second inspection, Lunny at last received certification from Salmon Safe. Kent, the organization's executive director, told me, "Lunny Ranch is a leader in environmental sustainability. We hope that certification will convey that to the public in Point Reyes and beyond."
  And while he would not reveal his dealings with National Seashore Supt. Neubacher (above), Kent (left) on Monday noted, "This was the most politically charged Salmon Safe certification in 12 years and more than 300 site inspections."
  The Lunny family had complained in writing to the Interior Department that Neubacher was "undermining" their "certifications," but the Investigator General investigators' report never addresses this example of harassment.
  « A demonstration to save Point Reyes National Seashore deer; park administration dishonesty officially confirmed | What's in the Inspector General's report on the park that the newspapers haven't been telling you »
  6 Responses	to " Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher seen as 'scary' "
  Feb. 5, 2010 — This man has been appointed to run Yosemite!! It is beyond belief, but so typical of Park Service. They listen to no one. I live just outside of Yosemite where they had their out of control, "control" burn last August that cost us $15 million, not to mention the air quality and environmental impact of this burn at the height of the fire season. Makes a great deal of sense, doesn't it?
  Feb. 5, 2010 — Don Neubacher should be fired not promoted. Here is a film I made on the issues http://oystergate.org
  The ranchers within the seashore were allowed to remain under leases signed in the 1970's.
  The ranchers received money up front for their lands under an agreement that most would be off the National Park Service lands after 20 years of the signings. In violation of the signed agreements, these ranchers remain way over 20 years after their leases expired under annual reservation agreements brought about by lies like this article is promulgating. We should be supportive of our National Park officers who are serving the people rather than a small group of squatters. The ranchers at Pt. Reyes claim that they know how to beat the system and this is one way that they do it.
  I find it odd that you call a rancher a "squatter" when he is paying his rent in accordance with a lease.
  The ranchers who had to move out of the park — after a designated period of time following the Park Service's purchase of Point Reyes — were those who had not owned the land they were on. All of them left, and the park took possession of the property.
  If a rancher owned his land when it was sold to the park and if he or his descendants continue ranching it, the family is entitled to stay there in perpetuity.
  Moreover, the ranches have clearly benefited the environment. Cows have kept Point Reyes in grassland for more than a century. And before the cows arrived with the Spanish, one of the largest elk herds in the world ate back the brush.
  Various species of wildflowers that are found only on Point Reyes evolved in the peninsula's grasslands. Unfortunately, when the Park Service has taken over ranches, it has typically allowed former grasslands to brush over, creating conditions Point Reyes hasn't seen since the Pleistocene era.
  The Park Service's land-management policies are drastically changing historic ecosystems on the point. Ultimately they may well kill off several native species of plants. This is not supposed to happen.
  Should you get out in the park, notice the Park Service sign at the Abbotts Lagoon Trailhead. Under a photo of cows grazing, it reads: "The open pastoral landscape of the peninsula is protected as part of the park's cultural heritage under legislation that created the park."
  Finally, what the ranchers got "money up front" for were many of their rights, including the right to manage their operations without needing federal permission to merely alter buildings, for example. 'Nuff said.
  YosemiteBlog.com | New Yosemite Superintendent No Stranger to Controversy says:
  […] Neubacher is no stranger to controversy though, while head of Point Reyes Neubacher drew local ire when a family-owned oyster farm which had operated in Drakes Bay for decades was almost shut down after a Park Service biologist published an inaccurate report and led park officials to believe the farm would be detrimental to the local environment (ptreyeslight.com, sparselysageandtimely.com). […]
  12-24-12 Remember the Pulitzer Prize Winning Author's article "What's In the Inspector General's Report?" 8-12-08 « Drakes Bay Oyster Company & the National Park Service. (to watch the video) "THE FRAMING OF AN says:
  […] be continued…   « Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher seen as 'scary' | Landscape photos & paintings in Stinson Beach » […]
  Tuesday, Aug 5th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
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