Transcript of Portions of Meeting of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area Advisory Commission
Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002
Unofficial Transcript -- by Michael B. Goldstein -- corrections?
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to call to order the regular
meeting of the Advisory Commission to the Golden Gate National Parks [sic]
and the Point Reyes Seashore. The Commission is appointed by the Secretary of
the Interior upon nominations by local groups and we are volunteers; we don't
get paid for this, but it's our job to give advice to the Secretary of the Interior
on the parks that we oversee through the local Superintendents. The Commission
are not park employees; we do not run the parks, and we are -- as our title
says, we are advisory only. So, our job is to give advice, but not necessarily
to make the final decisions or to run the parks. The agendas are available in
the back of the room and I'd like to mention that there is a new format starting
out with the new calendar year that we're going to try tonight and see if it
works better than what we've been doing, where we've put the public issues toward
the top of the agenda so those of you who need to leave early may do so without
staying through the entire agenda. On the other hand, in order to do that we
have to limit the time that's allocated to Non-Agenda Items. Agenda Items, of
course, take as long as they take -- but Non-Agenda Items: we have time limits
for each speaker, and for the entire amount of Non-Agenda Items.
The first thing on the agenda is the Approval of Minutes of November 27th, which was our last regular meeting. Those minutes were mailed to Commission members a couple of weeks ago. Is there any comments, or additions or deletions from those minutes? I don't see any, so they will be accepted as they were mailed.
Next, we have an item that is not on the agenda, but is a happy thing to have occurred, and that is that our 18th Commission member has been appointed by the Secretary: Paul Jones will be sworn in by the Secretary's designate, Superintendent Brian O'Neill.
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
All right, Paul, so we memorialize this forever, I'm going to have you stand
behind the mike here, and raise your right arm -- hand.
I, state your name --
Paul Jones:
I, Paul Jones --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
accept the responsibility --
Paul Jones:
accept the responsibility --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
conferred on me --
Paul Jones:
conferred on me --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
as a member of the Advisory Commission --
Paul Jones:
as a member of the Advisory Commission --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area --
Paul Jones:
for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
and Point Reyes National Seashore.
Paul Jones:
and Point Reyes National Seashore.
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
I will carry out my duties --
Paul Jones:
I will carry out my duties --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
within the mandates --
Paul Jones:
within the mandates --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
of the legislation --
Paul Jones:
of the legislation --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
establishing the parks, --
Paul Jones:
establishing the parks, --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
The Federal Advisory Committee Act, --
Paul Jones:
The Federal Advisory Committee Act, --
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
and the Charter and Bylaws for this Commission.
Paul Jones:
and the Charter and Bylaws for this Commission.
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
Congratulations!
Paul Jones:
Thank you.
[Applause]
Rich Bartke, Chair:
I should mention that Paul is a resident of San Mateo County, and was nominated
by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors -- although I believe you work
in San Francisco, do you not?
Paul Jones:
I do.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Yes, OK. Welcome to the Commission. Actually, Paul has been taking part
in Commission functions unofficially for a couple of months, because we knew
he was here.
OK, we are now to Non-Agenda Items, and I have four people who have signed up to speak -- first, is -- some of the names are really hard to read -- somebody named Mark, who wants to talk about the museum at Crissy Field. Mark?
[Speaker on planned museum at Crissy Field]
[Response by Presidio Trust Acting Executive Director Craig Middleton to question by speaker on planned museum at Crissy Field.]
Rich Bartke, Chair:
OK, the next speaker is Vicki Tiernan, who wants to speak about Commission
policies.
Vicki Tiernan:
Good evening, Commissioners. I don't have a prepared speech. What I wanted
to say was that, at the last meeting and at several meetings I've attended in
the past, the folks in the dog community were reminded that we were only to
speak about issues that had not been brought up before.
I have a copy here of the Bylaws for the Commission, that state that:
"the primary channel for the free exchange of ideas between the National Park Service and the public" is the Commission.
This is the forum set up for that purpose. If an issue is addressed here, but is not addressed to the satisfaction of the public, I think it's only fair for us to be able to be heard again. There are a great deal of people who are not happy with a number of issues relating to the dog situation.
I just wanted to make the point that I think people should not be discouraged from using the forum that's set up for this very purpose. Thank you.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Thank you. Next is Margory Cohen, speaking on the ANPR.
Margory Cohen:
I spoke before you a year ago -- tomorrow, it was a year ago -- also related
to dog walking issues in the GGNRA, as to access, and tonight I come with the
same questions -- having to do with the ANPR.
I understand from Mr. Superintendent O'Neill's press conference and from the literature that I've received, that public meetings will be held, and I haven't seen anything announcing the location for this. And with the web site down, I'm concerned about the clock being running and people having enough information, enough time to be able to get to meetings, so they can plan this. I'm concerned about how that word will be disseminated.
At Crissy Field and at Fort Funston, there are boards where the Park Service is in position to post signs, and there's nothing there about the ANPR. And also, at Crissy Field... you know, I walk my dogs in both places -- the Crissy Field dog group has been able to use the bulletin board at Crissy Field to promote -- to put up signs about what dog walkers are doing. And I'm wondering if some of us in the dog community could also use these particular locations, we'll have to contact libraries ourselves, etc. to put out our point of view, so that when other visitors come to the park, and they see that we're engaged with you, in this dialogue, really as you are engaged with the local community for this topic -- that there's a point of view explaining why it's important.
So, I'm concerned about access tonight on those two issues.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
OK, were going to ask the Superintendent to report about that under his
report which follows next on the agenda.
Margory Cohen:
Thank you very much.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Robin Buckley on the ANPR.
Robin Buckley:
Ms. Cohen already addressed my question, thank you.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
OK. Carol -- can't read -- could be Arnold?
Carol Arnold:
I just wanted to point out: I recently read in the Chronicle a small article
last week that the National Park Service has given its initial approval at Big
Cypress National Preserve in Florida, an over 700,000 acre wildlife haven, to
explode dynamite at over 14,000 sites throughout the park in an initial search
for oil. This fact shocked me when I compared it to the potential impact of
off-leash dogs at less than one percent of GGNRA lands. We all know that the
Park Service is trying to claim to be attempting to make off-leash use legal
in these areas, but most of us in the dog walking world do not trust this process
-- in other words, the ANPR process. My question is this: How can you blow up
dynamite at 14,000 sites at one park, and claim that the impact of off-leash
dog walking in a small portion of GGNRA lands has a significant negative impact
on natural resources? It doesn't seem to be consistent. Thank you.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Thank you. Jackie Johnson, speaking about handouts.
Jackie Johnson:
I have a request for some handouts for your -- from you, for us.
One is: I would like to see something listing the rare and endangered species that you keep talking about: where they are and, if possible, a reading list or something so that we can look up about them ourselves and find out about them.
The second thing I'd like to see is: I'd like to see a piece of paper out here that says who you are, who appointed you, what you do, who you report to -- in other words, we don't know anything about you people that are on the Commission. Are you all appointed because you belong to the parks, or what? We don't know; we'd like to see that.
And the third thing is: As far as the dog meeting, I hope that you will choose a site that's large enough that everybody can go; it wasn't very fair to keep everybody out in the pouring rain. Thank you.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Lisa Vittori.
Lisa Vittori:
Thanks for our 15 minutes. My name's Lisa Vittori, I work with the various
dog and environmental groups in The City. I'm here to, once again, ask you a
couple of questions about this ANPR process. I thank you for engaging in a process,
however flawed it might be.
Mr. O'Neill, I do expect to hear tonight exactly what you're going to be doing in terms of the public meetings and public notice. I'm noticing that there's no public notice at Fort Funston listed on this at all -- one of the primary dog areas that you keep complaining about. Nor do I see public notice at Muir Woods, at Rodeo Beach... I see no public notice at Baker Beach; these are all the places where people would actually see public notice. I think that in this process, you know that we're going to be out all the time talking to people. I also expect you to put up notice, since this is your process.
For the last year, we have actually engaged in civil dialogue with you; we've used your forums, we've obeyed your rules. If this process is rigged in the way the other forums have been rigged, I don't think you can expect our cooperation after this.
So I would really appreciate seeing this Commission really represent the views of the community -- the broad community -- in integrating dog and recreational use with environmental use in this park. Thank you.
Rich Bartke, Chair:
That concludes our Non-Agenda Items, but I would like to go back to a question
asked by speaker Jackie Johnson about not knowing who we are. We accept that
as a recommendation, and in fact, I'll report that we have a rough draft in
front of us of a handout that would do exactly that, except it's still a rough
draft; it hasn't been put in final form yet. Maybe by our next meeting, we'll
have that available on the back table or wherever, saying who we are and how
we're appointed and what we do.
[Committee Reports]
Rich Bartke, Chair:
Item four, Reports: Superintendent, Brian O'Neill.
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
To respond to a couple of questions that were raised in the comments: We
are currently in the process of trying to get the notification of the Advanced
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking up at all sites -- I can't guarantee they're all
up today, but they're certainly in the process of being placed at all locations,
and we'll keep an attentive eye to make sure that, if indeed they disappear,
that we replenish them.
The other thing is that we have made copies of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and all of the attached documents at quite a number of library locations and we've expanded that list up somewhat, and we're looking -- continue to look at additional places where copies of this can be made available.
We've been working to try to find a format for the public discussion on the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would sort of be a more neutral forum, and we've been working with the League of Women Voters to assist us in trying to look at how best to set that up. They have a very heavy agenda because of the early primaries, and so we've been having a difficult time getting all of the key reps together from Marin and San Francisco and San Mateo County. We have a meeting set up; we've had quite a few -- several -- conference calls with them. We're hopeful to come to some agreement within a week in terms of a format, timing and place. We understand that there's been some delay in getting that going, and are fully prepared to extend the comment period as necessary based upon the timing of that. So, we'll sort of see when we get those set up, if we need additional 30 days or more for that comment period, I'm certainly fully prepared to grant that, and we'll just get a sense of that at the time. But we're trying to get the materials out as far and wide as we can, so people have access to it. We apologize for the fact that our web site, our Internet site is down. It's down as a result of a court order from a judge, so we have no control over that, but as soon as, indeed, it's up, we'll get the notification out. And we certainly will be notifying the whole mailing list, and through the papers, whenever the public meeting locations and times are set, so stay tuned to that.
Now, there's just a brief report in the back [written Superintendent's Report, see below] I might just mention, you know what Craig [Presidio Trust Acting Executive Director Craig Middleton] we had the benefit of a very nice visit yesterday from the Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton. She was out and spent a part of her day yesterday touring the Presidio, looking at some of the issues there, so Craig and myself helped escort she and her husband and staff around the Presidio. So, it was a very nice visit, and we were very honored and pleased to have her have the first hands-on experience of the park as the Secretary of Interior.
Michael Alexander, Commissioner:
Brian, is it our web site that's down, or the Department of Interior's web
site?
Brian O'Neill, Superintendent:
It's the department and every agency in the department. Because the hackers
got into the system and had access to confidential material, that have what
the Native American Asset Management System -- every agency has to be certified
that indeed, their system is ironclad with respect to any ability to access
that information illegally. So it's quite a process that the judge set up to
get the systems in place to protect the integrity of information. We keep thinking
it's right around the corner, but we've been told it could be some time elapsed.
It's hugely frustrating in this technological era, in terms of how we communicate
information, so we're learning how to go back to the basics.
[Question and answer on Stinson Beach area antenna.]
Here is the written Superintendent's Report distributed to the Commission and the public at the GGNRA Advisory Commission's Jan. 22, 2002 meeting:
Between 150 and 175 non-native Monterey pine and Monterey cypress trees will be removed in the Marin Headlands in early February as part of mitigation requirements to protect the endangered mission blue butterfly. As part of the long-term habitat restoration program, the National Park Service will remove these trees from the Hawk Hill and Slacker Ridge area, west of the Golden Gate Bridge. Helicopters will be used along with the tree removal crews to cut and ferry the downed trees to the rifle range on Bunker Road before they are trucked off-site. The tree removal will also help protect the historic gun batteries from damage due to root intrusion and will restore the viewshed from this site. The Hawk Hill site will be replanted with native coastal and prairie sagebrush which will include silver lupine, a primary host plant for the mission blue butterfly. Upper Conzelman Road, McCullough Road, and portions of the Coastal Trail will be closed during the removal. Minor delays on Bunker Road may occur. Traffic to the Marin Headlands will be detoured through the Baker/Barry Tunnel.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton and her husband spent their free
time yesterday visiting the Presidio. The Presidio visit came at the end of
her three-day stop in California to announce proposed funding for the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. She was escorted on her Presidio tour by GGNRA Superintendent
Brian O'Neill, Presidio Trust Acting Executive Director Craig Middleton, Golden
Gate National Parks Association Executive Director Greg Moore, GGNRA Chief of
Interpretation Howard Levitt, and Public Affairs Specialist Chris Powell. Secretary
Norton learned about the community partnerships that helped transform Crissy
Field and the Crissy Field Center, and toured two restored historic buildings,
as well as visiting the Letterman site, Inspiration Point, and the Presidio
Golf Club.
Due to work being done on the Golden Gate Bridge on its seismic
upgrade project, Fort Point National Historic Site will be closed Monday through
Thursday beginning February 4, 2002.
Here is the revised Agenda distributed to the Commission and the public at the GGNRA Advisory Commission's Jan. 22, 2002 meeting: