We invite all to read this letter and consider endorsing it below.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced his decision not to grant a new 10-year permit to Drakes Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes National Seashore.
The six of us, whose sympathies lie on both sides of the Drakes Bay Oyster controversy, believe the West Marin community badly needs reconciliation. None of us, in our decades in West Marin, has seen any issue create such deep rifts in the community as the five years of ugly strife over Drakes Bay Oyster Company. This conflict has damaged the good working relationships, built in the ‘70s and ‘80s, between those who emphasize local food production and those who emphasize preservation values in the National Seashore. The wounds of the strife between these two worthy perspectives need healing.
We don’t have a plan to offer, but we know who will be important if we are to succeed. We need our leaders to lead. We need our local elected representative, Supervisor Steve Kinsey, to get back to representing both sides, not one. Point Reyes Seashore Superintendent Cicely Muldoon is strongly identified with the other side. If Steve and Cicely can find a way to build mutual trust and truly work together, we’ll be off to a good start.
Jared Huffman, our newly elected Congressman, is in a unique position. He knows West Marin from his six years representing us in the Legislature, and he is not identified with either supporters or opponents of Drakes Bay Oyster Company. He has followed the arguments on both sides, he has witnessed the fall out from the conflict, and he is willing to help heal the rifts if we ask him to.
We know that many people in West Marin cared about the Drakes Bay Oyster Company issue but remained silent because they felt there was no room for civil discourse. They were inclined to doubt the worst that each side said of the other. Now is the time to create openings for those people to speak up and be heard.
It will be hard for those who were the most passionate to bring us back together. The strength of feelings, the nature of the battle will make it harder for everyone to shake hands afterward. Those who can reach out to the other side — with sincerity — will earn the gratitude of the community.
How we manage the aftermath of this conflict will affect the strength of shared community in West Marin well into the future.
Nancy Bertelsen, former psychotherapist, writer, community organizer. First moved to West Marin 39 years ago.
Steve Costa and Kate Levinson, 16-year residents of Inverness, own Point Reyes Books.
Burr Heneman, co-founder of Commonweal, was a member of the federal Citizens Advisory Commission for Pt. Reyes National Seashore and moved to Bolinas in 1971.
Michael Mery, a native of West Marin, has worked with many community organizations.
Claire Peaslee, is a naturalist and writer who has lived in West Marin since 1980.
Signatories
- Nancy Bertelsen, Inverness
- Steve Costa, Inverness
- Mike Durrie, Inverness
- Catherine Lucas, Inverness
- Burr Heneman, Bolinas
- Janet Visick, Bolinas
- Kitty Okamura, Bolinas
- Virginia (Ginny) Felch, Stinson Beach
- Jenepher Stowell, Bolinas
- Rigdon Currie, Inverness Park
- Michael Lerner, Bolinas
- Anna Mohn Gade, Bolinas
- Lucinda watson, Sausalito
- Bart Eiaenberg, Foresr Knolls
- Lesly Robinson, Stinson Beach
- Ralph Robinson, Stinson Beach
- Michael Mery, Pt. Reyes Station
- Sandy Thomas, Bolinas
- Julie Westcott, Bolinas
- Marty Krasney, Sausalito
- Jan Broek, Bolinas ca
- Michael Bernsohn, Stinson Beach
- Livia Westcott-Lahar, Bolinas
- Megan Isadore, Forest Knolls
- Steve Matson, Bolinas
- Don Smith, Bolinas
- Amy Trainer, Inverness
- bridger mitchell, inverness
- Terence Carroll, Forest Knolls
- Nancy Heldt, Stinson Beach
- Sharyle Patton, Bolinas
- Wayne Heldt, StinsonBeach
- Claire Peaslee, Point Reyes Station
- Dorothy Nason White, Gre
- Mairi Pileggi, Inverness
- Julia Bartlett, Pt Reyes
- Tom Gardali, Inverness
- Summer Brennan, Point Reyes/Brooklyn
- Lee Benzinger, Pt. Reyes Station
- jim lawry, inverness
- Richard Buxbaum, Point Reyes/Berkeley
- Ken Levin, Point Reyes Station
- John Speh, Inverness Park
- Dakota Whitney, Inverness
- jeff felix, point reyes station
- bonnie felix, point reyes station
- Rachel Rivers, Inverness
- Richard Kirschman, Point Reyes Station
- Max Perrey, Mill Valley
- Ellen Serber, Inverness park
- Madeline Nieto Hope, Inverness
- John Hope, Inverness
- Katherine Mitchell, Inverness
- Marty Frankel, Inverness
- Elizabeth Whitney, Point Reyes Station
- Jim Gault, Inverness
- Marc Matheson, Inverness
- Bob Kroninger, Inverness
- Carolyn Longstreth, Inverness
- Brian Kirven, Point Reyes
- Jared Huffman, San Rafael
- jon fernandez, inverness
- James Grant, Inverness
- Joyce Schnobrich, Berkeley, CA
- Jim Schnobrich, Berkeley, CA
- Ann Gessert, Inverness
- Suzanne d\'Coney, Point Reyes Station
- Pat Heealy, Point Reyes Station
- Jane Stringer, Inverness
- Marlie de Swart, Bolinas
- Mary Olsen, Inverness
- Ivan & Eleanor Stern, Inverness Park
- Alex Fradkin, Pt Reyes CA - Brooklyn NY
- terry nordbye,
- Rick Lyttle, Inverness Park
- Meg Simonds, Bolinas
- Sharon Mooney, Inverness
- Betty Anne Carlin, Inverness
- Harriet Moss, Stinson Beach
- Keith Hansen, Bolinas
- Bruce Bowser, Bolinas
- David Keller, Petaluma nee Bolinas/Stinson Beach
- Philip Cohen, Petaluma
- Lexi Rome, Dogtown
- Martha & Alan Proctor, Inverness
- Steve Howell, Bolinas
- Tom PIerce, Novato
- Toni Littlejohn, Pt Reyes
- susan prince, Point Reyes Station
- G. David Miller, Inverness Park
- Jane Curtis, Inverness Park
- Terry Sawyer, Pt. Reyes Station
- Laurie Sawyer, Pt. Reyes Station
- Frank Egger, Fairfax
- Bill Press, Inverness
- Carol Press, Inverness
- carol sweig, inverness
- Rhonda Kutter, Point Reyes Station
- Aggie Murch, Bolinas
- Lindsay Parrott, Pt Richmond
- Jennifer Norris, Inverness/Sacramento
- nonnie welch, inverness park
- Suzanne Bartlome, Bolinas
- Bill Braasch, Bolinas
- Ken Drexler, Fairfax
- Ken Emanuels, Inverness
- Don Lloyd, Point Reyes Station
- Ethan Okamura, Bolinas
- Lynn Axelrod, Point Reyes Station
- Bob Anderson, Point Reyes
- Donna and Steve Faure, Inverness
- Alicia Jackson, inverness
- Martha Howard, Inverness
- Jess Taylor, Point Reyes Station
- Caroline McEver, Inverness
- Tom Killion, Pt. Reyes Station
- Dominique M. Richard, Inverness
- Susan Miller, Inverness Park
- Ann Emanuels, Inverness
- Bobbi Simpson, Fairfax
- Suzanne Speh, Inverness Park
- Maria Bennett, Inverness and San Anselmo
- Patsy Griffin-Young, Petaluma
- Kris Brown, Inverness
- igor sazevich, Inverness
- Tim Stanton, Inverness Park
- Devi Weisenberg, Inverness
- Sherry Stanton, Inverness Park
- Laurie Sawyer, Pt. Reyes Station
- Raul Gallyot, Inverness
- Laurie Roth, Petaluma/San Geronimo
- Stan Weisenberg, Inverness
- Jerry Abbott, Inverness
- Sarah Hobson, Inverness
- Megan Mery Ryan, Brooklyn, NY (born & raised in West Marin)
- Jenefer Merrill, Inverness
- lorraine Almeida, Pt reyes station
- Paul Coopersmith, Inverness
- Suzanne Parker, Inverness
- Geoffrey W. White, Greenbrae, CA
- Cameron Abbott, Tomales/Auburn
- Michael Litchfield, Point Reyes
- Mimi Abers, Berkeley
- david and miriam wilson, inverness
- Carlos Porrata, Inverness
- Jenny Stock, Petaluma
- Mikaela Smith, Petaluma
- Alicia Zamudio, Visalia
- Neysa King, Inverness Park
- Neysa King, Inverness Park
- Janet Attard, Inverness Park
- Carol Sturges McCulloch, Tomales
- Mary C. Morgan, Point Reyes Station
- Diana Humple, Bolinas
- David Wimpfheimer, Inverness
- Renee Cormier, Inverness
- Sonja Anderson, Inverness
- Doris Allen, Point Reyes Station
- Nancy Sakellar, Point Reyes Station
- John Sakellar, Point Reyes Station
- Patrick Kleeman, Inverness
- Tom Yarish, Sebastopol
- Jan Aston, Inverness
- Jan Aston, Inverness
- Dick Aston, Inverness
- Victoria Hanson, Tomales
- Patricia & Fred Holden, Belvedere
- Rosie Kaufman, Point Reyes Station
- Amy Howder-Thompson, Santa Rosa, Ca
- Mike, NY
- Lyons Filmer, Inverness Park