Dog Management

Dog Management Planning
Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is conducting a planning process to decide how best to manage dog walking in the park.

UPDATE: Current Project Phase as of April 29, 2013
Given the substance of many of the comments received on the Draft Dog Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), availability of additional data and studies, and potential changes to the alternatives and impacts analysis resulting from that information, a Supplemental EIS (SEIS) has been developed. We now anticipate that SEIS will be released for public review and comment by early summer, with a 90-day public comment period. This provides a second opportunity to comment on the future of dog management in GGNRA before we issue the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for public review and comment in 2014.

About the Supplemental DEIS
This revised document will supplement those sections of the DEIS where there have been substantial changes in the proposed action or significant new information relevant to environmental concerns. Some of the changes we are considering include:

- Developing site specific alternatives for Rancho Corral de Tierra
- Evaluating additional access for dog walking, both on leash and under voice control.
- Re-evaluating the impacts to adjacent federal, city and county parklands that could result from reducing areas open to dog walking in GGNRA. This evaluation will use input from a visitor survey of those on the dog management project list to help evaluate the re-distribution potential for dog walkers and non-dog walkers following implementation of the GGNRA dog management plan.
- Revising the compliance-based management strategy by including natural and cultural resource monitoring, removing automatic triggers and restrictions, and incorporating additional education and enforcement.
- Providing additional visitor use information and law enforcement statistics for the impacts analysis
- Incorporating additional studies into the impacts analysis
- Further evaluating compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
- Re-evaluating fencing as a method to minimize dog walking impacts.

The added step of issuing a Supplemental DEIS will add approximately a year to the project schedule.

Project Schedule as of March 2013
Spring 2013: Release the Supplemental EIS (SEIS) for public comment
Summer/Fall 2013: Incorporate public comment on the SEIS into the Proposed Rule
Spring 2014: Release the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for public comment
Summer/Fall 2014: Incorporate public comment on the Proposed Rule into the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Final Rule
Spring 2015: Release the FEIS
Early Spring 2015: Publish the Final Rule. Implementation begins 30 days after the rule is published 

For more information or to be added to the project email list, please call the Project Information Line: 415-561-4728. 

Where can I walk my dog?
Current status of dog walking in GGNRA
While the park is developing a new regulation for dog walking in GGNRA, the current status of what areas of the park are open to dog walking, either on leash or under voice control, will continue. Click here for more information about where to walk your dog.

Background

Draft Dog Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement
(Draft Plan/EIS)
The Draft Plan/EIS was released for public review and comment from January 14 to May 30, 2011; 4,713 comments were received. Click here to go to the GGNRA web page with all comments received on the Draft Plan/EIS. This includes letters received by mail, hand delivery or comments submitted online through the NPS PEPC website, as well as comments submitted in person at the four public, open-house meetings on the Draft Plan/EIS. Click here to see the Public Comment Summary Report. and click here to see the appendix to the report that contains letters with specific, detailed comments on the DEIS.

The Draft Plan/EIS is still available online, although the comment period has closed. Click here to read the Draft Plan/EIS.

Prior to the release of the Draft Plan/EIS, there were two earlier phases of the dog management planning process; an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) in 2002 and the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee in 2006/2007.

Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)
The ANPR, published in 2002 for a 90-day public comment period, was GGNRA's initial step to confirm that a new regulation for dog walking was needed in the park.The result of the ANPR was that GGNRA sent a recommendation to Washington that the park be allowed to go forward with a rule making process to develop a new dog walking regulation specific to GGNRA. Click here for more information about the APNR.

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for Dog Management
In 2006, a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for dog management in GGNRA, with members Committee members selected to represent the diverse interests likely to be affected by a new regulation for dog management, was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. The Committee's charter was to develop consensus recommendations to the park about how to manage dog walking in GGNRA lands. This process was used to bring public input in at the beginning of the rulemaking effort, rather than the more traditional rulemaking wherein the agency develops the proposed rule and receives public input only after the proposed rule is developed. Click here for more information about the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for Dog Management.