SAFE HOPPY RABBITS + WELL FED FOXES plus EAGLES AND OTHER NATIVE PREDATOR BIRDS + RESPECT FOR FIRST NATIONS FOUNDERS + CLEAN AIR/GROUND/WATER + LIVING DUNES + RARE BUTTERFLIES + PRETTY NATIVE GRASSES + NICE LOW FENCES TO MAKE IT ALL POSSIBLE = HAPPY ISLANDERS.
We're keeping the fight alive until we get something in writing from the National Park Service. Tell the NPS how you feel. Tell them the direction of the park is important to you. Write NOW: Chris_Lehnertz@nps.gov
U.S. Congressman Jim Moran, D-Va, Chair of both the Subcommittee on the Environment in the House Appropriations Committee and the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, has assured us that the NPS will not harm the rabbits. The Congressman advised local NPS Superintendent Peter Dederich to meet with S.O.B. representatives to discuss the rabbits. During this time, Dederich has promised no rabbits will be killed. So for now, we have both Dederich’s and Moran’s promises that the rabbits are safe. But we must keep talking until we have this confirmed beyond a shadow of a (re)doubt.
On September 1, 2010, Bryn and Rebecca Barnard met with Superintendent Dederich, who appeared open to compromise and suggested possible slight modifications to our rabbit dune fence proposal illustrated below.
watercolor by Bryn Barnard
The subject of toxins in the park will be open soon when the park begins public discussion about its plant management proposal.
Dederich noted that the National Parks do not have a toxin-free policy, but that they are required to use the least toxic viable methods of plant removal. This discussion is tabled for later, so get your research hats on. Regardless of federal policy, Superintendent Dederich makes these decisions at the local park level. We have a science committee looking into alternatives to the toxins. If you are a scientist who would like to join, please contact us.
Meanwhile, it appears Superintendent Dederich is listening; he has agreed to ongoing meetings with representatives of S.O.B. and said they are considering every comment on the S.O.B. petition as well as those left on their website comments page during the comments period. We think he will read emails. He probably won’t have time to respond to each one, so be sure to keep your own copies.
If you want to tell Superintendent Dederich, his boss in Seattle, Rory Westberg and Pacific West Regional Director Chris Lehnertz in Oakland that you support the Rabbit Dunes proposal, please email them by clicking here.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUNNY SUPPORT!
