Pt. Reyes officials could learn from Galapagos

I just returned from the Galapagos Islands, which (like Point Reyes National Seashore) is essentially a marine and coastal national park.

Remarkably, the Ecuadorian government and its national parks service have protected 97% of the islands for preservation and restoration with strict prohibitions on most human activity to preserve its native flora and abundant fauna.

It has prohibited all commercial fishing around the islands and all other commercial activities in the park except for strictly regulated tourism.

Long ago, it kicked ranchers and their livestock from the park, restricting them to the 3% of land outside park boundaries and started restoring the land by removing goats, feral livestock and non-native vegetation. The changes have helped officials in Ecuador restore land iguanas to many of the islands, increase the population of giant tortoises from 20,000 to 80,000 over decades and continue rebuilding one of the world's wildlife wonders. It is a model for what is possible to protect biological diversity and our planet's wild heritage.

The National Park Service in Point Reyes should be ashamed of its own work in comparison to its Ecuadorian counterparts. Considering the park service's mandate in U.S. law to protect our wildlife and park resources “in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations,” it has utterly failed to advance its mission. It continues to prop up commercial ranching on 28,000 acres of our park land, while at the same time restricting its wildlife, like the tule elk, behind fences or outright killing them if their numbers could compete with the cows for forage.

Shame on the National Park Service and the public officials who continue supporting this egregious scheme. It's time Point Reyes National Seashore lived up to the park service's mission. It should strive to seek goals similar to its Ecuadorian counterparts in the Galapagos.