The Federal Government plays rough. Following the Drakes Bay Oyster Company case, one can see why sharing lands with the federal government is not sharing at all. What began as a land agreement with California State and the Drakes Bay Oyster Company and the Federal Government, the National Park Service evolved over the years into a taking. The National Park Service owns the land under the cannery and says the estero should be protected by the 1964 Wilderness Act, as "an area … untrammeled … where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." Is it any wonder that people are worried about the National Park Service and National Heritage Areas Designations when these types of situations happen under NPS management? A coalition of food purveyors suing the Department of the Interior over the ouster of Drakes Bay Oyster Company from the Point Reyes National Seashore is now alleging that the federal government had no right to kick the oyster farm out of Drakes Estero because of the state’s property rights. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/19/5429844/point-reyes-shellfish-bounty-faces.html#storylink=cpy http://www.ptreyeslight.com/article/drakes-bay-suit-now-cites-violation-states-rights For more information on the Hurculean struggle of Drakes Bay Oyster Company to continue to exist, and the great lengths the Park Service will go to in terms of financial and other expenses, look at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company website here: http://www.drakesbayoyster.com/
August 9, 2014