Protect Tomales Dunes

Legalization of RV park needs to include protection for rare ecosystem

Across from the northernmost point of the Point Reyes National Seashore, at the mouth of Tomales Bay, is the largest unprotected dune system in central California: the Tomales Dunes. Strong northwest winds blowing off the ocean slowly move these extraordinary dunes in grand undulating waves taking decades to cross the landscape. The dunes also support at least 14 threatened and endangered species, many uniquely adapted to and dependent on the movement of the dunes. Tomales Dunes is one of the few dune systems in the state that still has a vital population of native dune grasses and contains the richest collection of seasonal wetlands in central California. The dunes buffer the prevailing winds and modify the tides, helping to calm bay waters and provide a rich feeding ground for more than 40 species of wintering waders and waterfowl.

Tomales Dunes is also the site of Lawson's Landing, the biggest recreational-vehicle (RV) campground on the California coast. This operation has operated here for decades without the required county and Coastal Commission permits. The campground's 233 "permanent" and 1,000 temporary RV sites transform Lawson's Landing on busy weekends into the biggest town in West Marin and generate enormous revenues for its owners. Unfortunately, the town's sewage is handled by porta-potties and 100 primitive, unpermitted cesspits next to Tomales Bay. RVs park in sensitive dune wetlands. Invasive European beach grass has been planted to protect the campsites from wind-blown sand, but that same sand is essential to sustaining the moving-dune system and the habitat of the endangered snowy plover.

Under pressure to bring the entire property into compliance with state and county laws, Lawson's Landing has asked for approval of a Master Plan for the campground. The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), however, that it has submitted to the Planning Commission has numerous inadequacies.

• An EIR must include a "no project" alternative to serve as a baseline of conditions without any project. This draft, however, includes a "no project alternative" that would grandfather in about 1,000 existing camping spaces, even though they have never received permits or environmental review. The other alternatives are "straw man" choices that would increase, rather than decrease, impacts. The EIR needs to be rewritten to include a true no-project alternative based on the condition of the dunes at the time when permits were first required.

• The plan must include mitigations for negative impacts of the project, but many of the proposed mitigations are shams that rely on future studies or on future plans that will be accomplished only "to the extent feasible".

• The project description in the EIR does not specify the locations of RV sites, and assumes that 233 are "permanently" occupied. But locating RV sites in the least environmentally sensitive site is crucial, and the maximum stay permitted in state-regulated campgrounds is 30 days.

A sustainable vision for the Lawson's Landing campground must be based on the carrying capacity of the site. As one of the few sites where the public can camp on the coast, Lawson's serves an important recreational function, but this does not justify unregulated RV access, or hogging of that access by a favored few. RV stays should be limited to 30 days and should be clustered in less sensitive areas. Wetlands should be protected, and the stabilized foredunes should be restored to natural conditions that will allow sand to blow and dunes to move.

In the hope of achieving a sustainable recreational use within the carrying capacity of these fragile moving dunes, the Sierra Club is working with the Coalition to Protect Tomales Dunes, which includes the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin and two dozen other Marin-based, state, and national organizations.

WhatYouCanDo

Write to:
Steve Thompson, Chair
Marin Planning Commission
c/o Coalition to Protect Tomales Dunes
P.O. Box 609
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956.

Marin readers can send in the post card enclosed in their copies of the Yodeler, but your own personal letter is even more powerful. Tell the Planning Commission to protect these rare and beautiful dunes from over-exploitation:

• sustainable recreational use must be limited to the carrying capacity, and RVs and septic systems must be clustered in the less sensitive areas;

• the EIR must provide a fair no-project alternative that does not include the 1,000 unpermitted campsites;

• mitigations must be definitive and must include removal of invasive beach grass to allow sand to blow in to replenish and maintain the moving-dune system.

The commission's first hearing on the EIR will be on Sep. 12; please send in your letters as soon as possible.

Gordon Bennett, chair, Marin Group