More than 52,000 comment letters on the future of Drakes Estero posted to Point Reyes National Seashore website

Date: March 1, 2012
Contact: Melanie Gunn, 415-464-5131

Point Reyes Station - The National Park Service (NPS) has posted 52,473 public comment letters on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit to the park's web page (www.nps.gov/pore/parkmgmt/planning_dboc_sup.htm). Letters were submitted from every state, all of the United States commonwealths and territories, as well as 40 countries. Thirty-seven percent of the correspondence came from California. 

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit was available for a 78 day public review and comment period that closed on December 9, 2011. In response to the high level of public interest, the NPS is posting the comments in advance of their publication in the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

The correspondence received during the public comment period is available on the park's web page in the form it was originally submitted by the author-web format, hard copy, and comments recorded on flip charts at the three public meetings held in October 2011. Also available is the Content Analysis Report indicating correspondence distribution by state and country, organization type, correspondence type, and comment distribution by code. Standard for projects of this level of public interest, the DEIS Notice of Availability in the Federal Register stated that bulk comments submitted on behalf of others will not be accepted. Bulk comments received during the public comment period are not posted online nor reflected in these numbers. 

The NPS is now analyzing the comments and preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The FEIS will consider and respond to agency and public comments received on the DEIS. The NPS anticipates completing the FEIS in the summer of 2012. 

-NPS-