12/31/2023 0 Comments National point reyes seashore![]() ![]() The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board is reviewing Turtle Island’s findings now. The park has not done such extensive water quality testing since 2013 and is due to begin this winter. The California Coastal Commission required the park to create a new water quality strategy as a condition of approving its general management plan last year, which includes expanding water quality testing and reporting the results back each year. The report, which was commissioned by an environmental group and is disputed by the ranching industry, is the latest flareup in a decades-long debate over the ranching that occupies more than one-third of the national seashore. Those beef and dairy ranches are the focus of a recent water quality report showing high levels of fecal bacteria downstream from the cattle, and their manure, in lagoons and beaches popular with park visitors. Among them, coyotes stalk gophers on the dun hillsides, red-tailed hawks perch on fence posts and a skunk waddles along the road’s asphalt margin. The peninsula that stretches south toward the horizon is almost entirely taken up by ranchland and weathered buildings. Looking down at the coast from a hill above the historic L Ranch at Point Reyes National Seashore, rolling swells appear on the ocean surface like blue corduroy. ![]() Tim Kehoe, co-owner of Kehoe Dairy (shown here), says, “We have been working with the regional water board for the last 50 years since the park’s purchase to improve water quality.” Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less ![]() Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 6 of6 Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of6īeef and dairy ranches at Point Ryees National Seashore are the focus of a recent water quality report showing high levels of fecal bacteria downstream from the cattle, and their manure, in lagoons and beaches popular with park visitors. Schooner Creek is a watershed at Point Reyes at Point Reyes National Seashore that supports steelhead trout. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 4 of6 “Our concern big time is ocean health and water quality health,” says Scott Webb, advocacy and policy director at Turtle Island Restoration Network. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of6 The B Ranch is one of several dairy and beef ranching operations at Point Reyes National Seashore. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of6 Abbotts Lagoon, one of the locations found wih excessive fecal bacteria levels, can be seen in the distance west of the L Ranch. ![]()
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