September 6, 2010
Hello Supt. Dederich;
I have been following all of this discussion with great interest; sometimes not as involved, and at other times very involved, as you know from the English Camp meeting with Rep. Moran. As a 35 year islander who once wrote an essay for a college class that my favorite place in the world is American Camp, I do have a horse in this race. (mainly, my love of life and living things.)
I went back to school in 1997 and got my MA in Political Science/Environmental Policy. I also have a BS in environmental studies from Huxley College and you may or may not know that I was the Executive Director of Friends of the San Juans from 1984-1996.
I have studied NEPA quite a bit. The NEPA process only kicks in when there is a proposed action that may have a significant impact on the environment. NEPA requires a "no action" alternative as well as a variety of alternatives that realisitically address other actions that could be taken, which you are apparently not considering. I do not understand why your comments to Bryn and Rebecca were framed as "we are forced to follow NEPA" as though that explained why you felt it necessary maintain such an air of secrecy, aloofness, and mainly, to kill the rabbits. The paperwork received from the Freedom of information Act request indicated that the killing of rabbits that occured earlier this year was somehow exempt from the NEPA process. This seems highly suspect to me, in terms of the intent of NEPA, especially as it pertains to the proposed action.
You also claim (in the Notes) that above all else "we must protect the natives". This is also a judgment call on your part. Scientists are not in agreement about this concept and how long it takes for a species to become naturalized. The idea of restoring the park to a biological condition at some arbitrary point in time is highly debatable. If bringing back the golden paintbrush and the island marble butterfly is a goal, why not experiment with a small area rather than the entire park?
I attended Terry Domico's presentation about the ecology of the dunes and the important role rabbits play in maintining the dune ecology. That is one reason to keep the rabbits.
Personally, I loved the thousands of rabbits that riddled the prairie and attracted golden eagles and many other raptors. I have worked as a naturalist and led a guided bus tour to the redoubt to see the rabbits and it was the highlight of the trip for many tourists.
Worst of all, the chemicals that are being added to our already chemically oversaturated environment seem totally unnecesary, whether it be Round-up or carbon monoxide. Considering that we are living in an era of massive species extinction it would seem prudent not to keep adding toxins to the environment. (many of them are known to get into the water table, wash into the ocean and eventually into our bodies).
I recall that John Muir, father of the National Park system, believed that Nature is God, and the parks are the sanctuaries in which we masses of urban or suburban dwellers and landless citizens may worship. I hold that belief, too. And it upsetting to me that the park system is veering off the course of being a pristine "as is" area, but tampered with in a perhaps reckless, human attempt to play God.
I saw the one remaining warren, the other evening ,with a few rabbits present, and I beg you not to kill them, too.
I am interested in further discussing the NEPA process with you.
Sincerely,
Nancy DeVaux
September 3, 2010
Finally, we have had some communication with Peter Dederich, the most recent in a meeting September 1 between Dederich, Ranger Jerald Weaver, my husband Bryn and me. At the meeting at the NPS office, Dederich made it clear that no decisions would be made and that he was not “negotiating” with us. But at least we met at last.
At the public meeting August 31, we established the San Juan Parks Stewardship Oversight Board. We continue to recruit members from the science community to serve as liaison between us and the NPS. Please contact us if you would like to join.
Dederich admitted gassing rabbits in April, but is reconsidering the plan to kill the rest of them this fall, possibly in response to Congressman Jim Moran’s request made during the week the U.S. House Appropriations delegation visited the island.
Dederich said he has been called “Bunny Killer” on the street, and that his rangers have been harassed. I told him I couldn’t control public behavior. Please don’t be uncivil toward park rangers. They are only following orders.
The superintendent said that the NPS “will not kill any rabbits” while the discussion period is ongoing. We’ve also been told by several insiders that Peter will do what he wants regardless of discussion.
We’ll have to see.
But meanwhile, please keep talking.
Rebecca Parks Barnard
S.O.B.
HERE ARE SOME LETTERS...
Opposed to the elimination of American Camp rabbits
Jul 29 2010
Absurd: killing all the rabbits at South Beach in order to protect the artifacts of war (the “redoubt”) is an idea which has been made pointedly absurd by the National Park Service, itself, at its announcement in the Mullis Center July 27.
The Park Service was asked by Sam Buck Jr. to declare whether or not the sudden disappearance of the rabbits, two years ago, was caused by the Park Service. In a firm clear voice, the Park Service denied that it had anything to do with that sudden disappearance of those many thousands of rabbits in a single day, but — wait for it — suspected natural predation had occurred that day.
Thus the Park Service has admonished us all that nature keeps herself in check, but the Park Service must kill any and all returning rabbits itself — in order to protect the redoubt from damage by rabbit tunnels below.
When Pickett chose that open, exposed, indefensible location for U.S. troops in the Pig War, there was probably no more drinking water nearby than there is today.
Water’s a good thing to have nearby for any camp site, military or otherwise, but this, remember, is the same Pickett whose Confederate charge later failed, at a cost of 50 percent of his forces. Which part of this man’s career is worth memorializing? His doing nothing well here? Or his doing badly, indeed, at Gettysburg?
As to worthwhile careers, isn’t the whole purpose, by which the Park Service will deal instantly with the rabbit “problem,” a form of career justification? If the Park Service were not to undertake the work of creating a study in support of further make-work, for what would the Park Service be needed?
If we just got together and explained to the Park Service’s distant management that what’s needed at South Beach is nothing more than its proper name (“South Beach,” not “American Camp”), then, perhaps, most of the expense of memorializing how badly Pickett did could be spent on something worthwhile.
Thom Gray Rome
Friday Harbor
To Peter Dederich and the National Park Service:
I am writing to you as an islander.
It I my understanding that the Park Service intends to exterminate the rabbit population at American Camp for the purpose of restoring the park’s native grasses and preserving historical artifacts.
The rabbits are not native; this I understand. But neither am I. I drive a gas-guzzling car down paved roads that erode our natural terrain; this produces runoff that poisons our water and soil. Every day I shower and send toxic chemicals down my drain, into the Puget Sound and eventually into the breathing bodies of our beloved orca whales. I pollute those same waters simply by using our ferry system, which pumps toxins into the air and water all day, every day. Simply by being alive – by traveling, eating, bathing – each of us chips away at the natural wonder of this place we treasure and seek to preserve. Is it fair to demand that the rabbits share this space with us, and leave no trace? Could our energies be better spent considering our own impact on our environment, rather than convincing ourselves that killing living animals with guns and bullets and blood – not even for the sport of it, not even for their meat, but simply for the sake of having them gone-- will somehow make this place more beautiful?
Every islander has something that most Americans don’t, and that is a relationship with place. We interact with the natural world in a way that is unique and unmatchable. Like every islander, I have a sacred relationship with this island, a relationship that was grown summer after summer, year after year, moment after moment in the dirt and rocks and water of San Juan. It is because of this relationship that I treasure this place, that I want to keep it beautiful, that I am back for the summer to give back to the environment and the community which grew me, nurtured me, made me what I am. I am here to give back, and I am here to defend the life I have led in this place. Right now, I am defending the rabbits, because they have been here longer than I have, because they are embedded in my most beautiful island memories, and simply because they are alive and, I think, entitled to that life.
From the age of five I was raised on San Juan Island. For four years, during high school, I worked for an Eagle Cove resident, taking her dog on daily walks on the American Camp trails. As a result, I am deeply familiar with the trails and beaches at American Camp. Some of my fondest island memories include running, tripping, laughing hard out at American Camp as my big fuzzy black poodle went wild chasing those darned rabbits.
I am now returning from college for the summer to work two jobs. At night I work at as a hotel reservationist. Every night I speak with dozens of visitors, all of whom want to know what they “simply must see” during their short stay. Always, American Camp is my first recommendation, and I never forget to mention the rabbits. Tourists are thrilled at the idea of seeing foxes chasing rabbits into their warrens or catching a bald eagle on the hunt, shooting down and then soaring up, up out of the grasses with a bunny in its talons.
During the day, I work at Camp Eagle Rock as a counselor for kids in grades K-5. Several times already this summer, I have taken my campers – island kids and visiting kids – to the South End, where they get dirt under their fingernails, scrape their knees clambering up rocks, and quench their insatiable childhood thirst for discovery and adventure hiding in the grass, hoping to pop a rabbit with a driftwood gun or catch one with cardboard box and string or maybe even pet one, if they can just be quiet enough.
I understand that the Park Service wants to preserve the history of American Camp, and I respect that. But the Park Service must also understand that history is being made now, in the hearts and minds and scraped up knees of little island kids, making their first island memories at American Camp and, unlike so many American children today, developing a relationship with their place. Rabbits aren’t pets in cages for these kids; foxes aren’t cartoon characters in Disney movies; bald eagles aren’t glorified symbols next to American flags. These kids live with and in and through and for this place, for the way it goes on with and without them, for the way it pulls them outside to play and learn. They are surrounded by animals, by life and adventures that for most kids exist only on TV. Respect that history.
There is enough violence in our world; we waste enough energy trying to kill, beat, exterminate things. Let’s let our island live, let’s let it grow, let’s let our kids grow with it. Every child raised or family grown or individual found on this island has a unique and sacred relationship with its beautiful, silent, thriving natural spaces. We islanders appreciate this, we live for these moments, for this life that allows us to have a relationship with our place.
Well, my place is American Camp, and I’m asking you to let it live.
Sincerely,
Wynn Barnard
I used to lead an occasional wildflower walk at American Camp, starting at the visitor center, proceeding down to the water and then up the redoubt trail to the parking area, where almost all the wildflower species I had pointed out to walkers were grouped in the circular fenced area. When a former maintenance director persisted in mowing the flowers, I registered my opinion, backed by some knowledgeable islanders, that this would keep the foliage from manufacturing the energy for the bulbs to prosper, plus it would encourage root growth in the surrounding grass, which would then encroach on the wildflowers. The superintendent at that time told maintenance not to mow there. Head of maintenance told me that no one was going to tell him what to do. The incredible display of flower species in that circle is now greatly reduced. The last time I was there, a few years ago, I saw only blue camas in any quantity, plus one or two specimens of two other species.
A few years ago, when a directive came through to remove all non-native plant species from American Camp, personnel started -- not with tansy ragwort, not with hairy cat's-ear, not with any species on the noxious weed list -- they started with California poppy.
When they did start pulling tansy ragwort, they put the plants in open plastic garbage bags down by the water. Breezes off the water carried the weed seeds back up the slope -- a form of job security, I guess.
As for the rabbits, any one with an awareness of ecological patterns knows that the introduction of a new species or the removal of a long-established species is going to have an effect on other species in that biome. An excellent children's picture book on the subject, a quick, easy read for adults, is The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo: A Drama of Ecology by Charlotte Pomerantz. Removing the rabbits could have a powerful and unexpected effect on the area. If it is true that the "American Camp eagles", whose nest has been there for a very long time, have permanently left, that alone is a very disheartening sign. If bald eagles are to be protected, surely their food source should also be protected.
I'm asking you to withhold my name, although I know that anonymous letters carry less weight than signed letters, because I don't want to hurt friends on the staff at American Camp, who must work under the current superintendent.
Why We Want the Bunnies
by Carter Fuehr-Bush, age 13
1) Why needlessly kill 500 or so bunnies just because they're not native? They have been here for over a 130 years and are not doing any harm especially with how few are left. It's a different story with the Varnish Clams pushing out the native clams of Jackson's Beach Lagoon but not much can be done about that. The NPS plans on doing anything to get rid of the "infestation" whether it's guns, poisonous gas, or Round-Up on the grass the bunnies eat. As Tim White said, "Eradication of the Parklands rabbits by extermination is uncalled for."
2) When most people go to South Beach, they expect to see plenty of Bunnies and Foxes and the occasional Eagle. if the Bunnies are exterminated, there will be no animal life left at South beach to observe. The Eagles have already left and the foxes are thin and begging for food because their food source is almost depleted. Katharine Doris said, "I heard a park ranger say that the foxes can eat grass. That is the type of misinformation that misleads and directs attention off the subject."
3) There is one main reason as to why the NPS wants to exterminate the bunnies: to return things to the way they were at American Camp before the bunnies were introduced. They want to restore the native grasses that were before. Which is better? Grass or Bunnies? Hmmmmmm. Mary Elford: "Today the Park is like a death camp. Sure the grasses are blowing in the wind but that’s about it." Katharine Doris: "I do not know one individual who took the ferry to San Juan Island to see the prairie grass. They come to see the wildlife: the foxes , the eagles, the rabbits."
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4)Bryn Barnard said, "Ecology. The rabbits’ nibbling and burrow-making plays a vital role in the maintenance of the active dune system in the park, the only dune system on San Juan Island and the only home on the island to three endemic plant species, including yellow verbena. Remove the rabbits and the dunes will eventually be replaced by grassland. Those endemic plants will be eliminated from San Juan Island." Mary Elford said, "The benefit of having rabbits at American Camp far outweighs any negatives." The bunnies also fertilize the land =).
5) "Economy. The Park admits the current rabbit-fox ecosystem is self-regulating, keeping the population relatively stable with no monetary outlays by the Park. Removing the rabbits will require the Park to maintain the prairie grassland through repeated mechanical and chemical intervention. This is a poor use of scarce taxpayer dollars," said Barnard.
6) The NPS and a few ill-informed islanders are the only ones that seem to want the bunnies gone. There are hundreds of people that have signed the petition to Save Our Bunnies and hundreds that will or want to.
7) "Oh, aren't there a million of them out there?" said some fair go-er. No, there used to be. Over the years the NPS has been gassing the rabbit holes and whittling down their numbers. This isn't the first time the NPS has wanted to kill bunnies, it's just the first time people are doing something about it. Rebecca Barnard said, “It might feel like we dropped the ball along the line somewhere in protecting the rabbits. But we didn’t know the ball was in the air. All we’ve had is rumors, and the Park service has continually denied them.”
8) The protocol for eradicating a non-native species from an area is when the situation is in a "crisis". The current situation is DEFINITELY NOT a crisis!
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9) There is an alternative to the slaughter. Build a fence! It's not complicated technology, just a simple fence. There are many effective large-scale rabbit fencing solutions available.
10) The NPS has been spending money on poisonous gasses and Round-Up for a long time and now they want to hire hunters to shoot the bunnies. How much will this cost? The estimate for a rabbit fence that was passed around was approximately $50,000. If the the NPS decides to cancel their plan to shoot the rabbits, then they can use that money to help pay for the fence.
Carter
FROM EMILY CONNERY
Dear Director Chris Lehnertz,
A group of us on San Juan Island are currently protesting the intention of the NPS to kill the remaining rabbits at American Camp. When the public became aware of this, their negative reaction was, and continues to be, loud and clear. In just a few days we have collected at least 400 signatures on petitions asking for a halt to the killings. Sadly, most of the rabbits have already disappeared from
the area. What happened to them I do not know; but I do know the eagles have flown away, their nest has not been used this year. The foxes who remain are emaciated and weak. The present day ecosystem of American Camp has been altered by the NPS in their attempt to restore it to its pre-historic condition. The animals who used to hop and play and hunt and raise their young are gone.
San Juan Island has been gifted with two beautiful historic parks. We love these parks and our visitors do too. We want our parks to thrive and now we want to revive the animal life that, until recently, inhabited American Camp.
I hope you will reconsider the approach our local NPS is taking and instruct them to stop the use of poisons and guns. I thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Emily Connery
380 Davison Head Drive
Friday Harbor, WA 98250
Mary Elford to NPS
August 2010
Please help us here on San Juan Island.
The rabbits have resided in the area for over 135 years. Their population today is at its lowest. The NPS published a booklet on “Rabbits at American Camp” in the 70’s when the park was flourishing with rabbits and raptors of all kinds. At that time they admitted the rabbits were important food source and that watching the rabbits on the prairie was a favorite activity for visitors. Golden Eagles were a common sight along with many species of owls and hawks hunting the bunnies or enjoying a meal of road kill. Today the Park is like a death camp. Sure the grasses are blowing in the wind but that’s about it. I say, fence in the redoubt, fence an area for the non native species of wild flowers. Use man power instead of deadly poisons to control the plants that you think are a nuisance today (which flip flops according what reports are being touted or what year/decade it is). When asked about which Alternative regarding the Resource Management Plan would I favor I want it known the Alternative A is my preference. I want the NPS to listen to what people are saying and respond by canceling the plan to shoot the rabbits. I know the difference between a smirk and a smile.
FYI the Island Marble Butterfly is also found extensively at the old gravel pit site near Jackson's Beach. The yellow paintbrush is flourishing on properties off of False Bay Drive.
The benefit of having rabbits at American Camp far outweighs any negatives.
Even in your RMP the Cumulative Impacts Conclusion Alternative A reports that
“The no action alternative would have continuing major adverse effect on soils at American Camp, BUT WOULD NOT CONSTITUTE IMPAIRMENT.”
This same statement is repeated for soundscape, terrestrial wildlife and wildlife habitat, invasive species.
San Juan Island Administrative History
Chapter 5:
Resource Management
Resource Management Plans
2nd paragraph The landscape at American Camp was extremely altered and would need further study to determine how to control rabbit populations and not deplete bald and golden eagle levels. Golden Eagles have already left the area and are listed as unusual in your reports.
3rd paragraph Birds
The rabbit population and prime hunting grounds on the open prairie will continue to support raptor population within the park Now you are trying to tell us that the eagles and fox do not eat the rabbits (perhaps it’s because most rabbits have disappeared).
Summary European Rabbit Management Environmental Assessment
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES
Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species
Alternative A: May affect, not likely to adversely affect bald eagles at American Camp.
Alternative B: May affect, not likely to adversely affect bald eagles at American Camp
What? How can A and B be the same???????? This must be an oversight, major oversight. Of course the eagles will be affected when a major food source is taken away.
www.sanjuanisland.org/wildlife.html
Bald Eagles on the Island
The eagle population dropped drastically in the 1970’s and early 1980’s when a plague nearly wiped out the island rabbit population. Eagles rely heavily on the rabbits for food.
Goldens favor land animals, such as rabbits, rodents, and cats.
My fear now is what the ramifications will be from the poisons you have used on the blackberries and other plants in our little National Park. I witnessed deer in the same area along with birds landing on the poisoned plants. What about the voles and mice that are now toxic food for the fox and raptors?
This must be addressed and all the killing stopped.
The National Park Service has a plan to reestablish the prairie at American Camp on San Juan Island. The plan is to shoot the rabbits (next month) and continue to shoot them until they are gone. In the meantime they have used poisons to try to rid the place of Blackberries, and grasses. They have spread Roundup and who knows what all in various places on the property.
Perhaps a call from you to NPS Superintendent Peter Dedrich (360 378-2240) to support non violence regarding the rabbits and to stop using poison in the Park (as you know we have a high rate of cancer on this island).
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-our-bunnies-at-american-camp
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/jsj/news/99458214.html videos
Thank you very much for your time,
Respectfully,
Mary Elford
Dear All,
S.O.B. is a lighthearted campaign with a heavyhearted message: There really is very little life--as we've known it and loved it--left at American Camp. Yesterday, I looked for, and could not find, a single rabbit. An emaciated fox approached me up at the redoubt. There were no eagles or hawks or other birds of prey in sight. There was a burned patch of field, lots of blackened dead blackberries and dried grass.
All kinds of destructive actions have taken place at this park--and at English Camp where big Douglas firs are being killed to make way for more Oak trees to return. These are well-intentioned acts of destruction. They are supporting a distant past--before our impact changed things forever, making way for new cycles of life. Life determined by itself--not us. There is not much we can do from this point in time--but ask for accountability and transparency, mercy for the few remaining rabbits, and non-herbicide, Round Up--free environmental stewardship. At the public hearing, I was most moved by the stories of people who have known generations of being on this island. All the love of place that poured out from those who did not get a chance to save what they loved. And neither did I. American Camp and its abundant life was a big reason why I moved here. In twenty years, not a week has gone by without a visit--until now. Now it is a place of sadness.
At the tea time yesterday, I spoke with a woman who was born here. She said she's been grieving about the park for two years. My own grieving started in May, 2009, when I first sensed that things were terribly wrong when the eagles were gone from the nest they had occupied for so long. Others, at the meeting, on the street and on the trails, shared their own speechless, helpless loss of the experiences they have treasured in this place.
There is positive action coming out of our lighthearted, heavyhearted campaign. We hope for a group of park-lovers who will get intimately involved with the goings-on at our National Park here on the island--and keep us informed about decisions that hurt what we love.
In the meantime, please consider a call to those in federal government who can make a difference and an email to Pacific West Regional Director of the National Park Service, Christine Lehnertz:
Many thanks for taking the time to read this. And for all you do in service of life-at-large on this island.
Janet Thomas
Katharine Doris writes to Rep. Jim McDermott
We are having an issue regarding the rabbits at American Camp on San Juan Island, Wa. I believe that the rabbits having lived there on the park land for so long have contributed to the land, i.e. fertilizing it a LOT... They have built UP that land over the past hundred years. Had they not built that sandy unrocky area up with their poops, that land very well may have been rained and blown down and away to perhaps become another False Bay...
I garden and raise rabbits(angora). I know that the two can live side by side with a fence. I would like to keep tourists coming to see the whales and the rabbits. It was very enjoyable before the rabbits began disappearing (however they were eradicated.)
The prairie grass seems to be the issue. I know that volunteers would be glad to keep the fences mended. I know the prairie grasses are important to the environment and other animals and butterflies, etc., but so are the rabbits.
The tourists come to see the whales and the sea weed is secondary. The same can be said for the prairie grass. I do not know one individual who took the ferry to San Juan Island to see the prairie grass. They come to see the wildlife: the foxes , the eagles, the rabbits.
I believe the prairie grass can be planted and maintained on the other side of the fence from the rabbits. This might seem like a trivial thing to write about but we are talking tourist dollars, tourists who do NOT want to go to American Camp now to just feel sad about how they (the park) are going to shoot the remainder of the rabbits.
I know that the public speaking out is about 97 people for leaving the rabbits alone there (fenced) to 3 who want to kill the rest. Do we live in a democracy or what....When the park officials asked us to come to a public meeting, they did not want us to Speak....They wanted us to sit quietly in areas and write. We demanded that they let us talk. We demanded to talk, ask questions. One man named Peter who is a part of our parks here actually smirked the entire time. We only wanted to know if our many many protesting letters would make any difference? or would they just shoot the rabbits anyway? I do know that people who feel like the park officials are acting in a barbaric dictatorial way will just start breeding rabbits in their basements and let them loose all over the island...just some thing I heard.
I heard a park ranger say that the foxes can eat grass. That is the type of misinformation that misleads and directs attention off the subject.
People want democracy here...imagine that. Thanks so much for your time.
P.S. The park people are also using poisons to eradicate unwanted plant life. Again, volunteers raised their hands to help pull or cut said plants. The poison the park used is leaching into the soil and into the very salmon the tourists eat..and into the whales they come to see. This is barbaric given today’s knowledge of this kind of behavior. We want to know what will be done to stop them from destroying the park.
A great friend of mine died the year before last who worked for the parks here on the island. I'll bet he would have told me who the 'shredder' is...i.e., the person who shredded the evidence that a virus was introduced 20 years ago and [again] two-ish years ago, although they deny it. Also the park denies having introduced fox although people actually saw a branch of the park do it. So Peter could lie with a smirk that “the park” did not introduce fox...
Please add my letter about this to the others and consider looking into these issues.
Thank you,
Katharine Doris
Tim White
I am writing as one who over several years conducted wildlife field research projects (gorillas, chimpanzees, elk, HBV). I am also reasonably educated and alarmed about problems involving exotic invasive species. I support eradication in emergency and crisis situations.
Eradication of the Parklands rabbits by extermination is uncalled for. Eradication itself remains questionable.
In addition, given the controversy and emotions aroused, killing or poisoning the last rabbit is likely a temporary, futile solution.
1. No emergency here.
This is not a new population, nor is there a sudden or overwhelming bloom in rabbit population or impacts.
2. No crisis of scale here.
The 50-year status is more or less stable. The ecosystemic disruptions are not encroaching into ever more niches, corrupting new food chains, or compromising new natural systems/cycles. The rabbits are not undermining local or regional biostability.
Ripple effects appear to be self-limited and contained with no or minimal management intervention.
3. Low harm warrants low priority.
This rabbit population remains an appropriately low priority in exotic invasive control efforts in our region. More pressing local infestations include:
a) scotch broom (climax broom desert in disturbed/compacted native soils in upSound islands; in native prairies downSound)
b) sargassum (disrupts suppression of red tide algae by native “seaweeds” displaced by sargassum)
c) tansy (lethally toxic to livestock).
4. Nonlethal nonviolent community-acceptable alternatives available.
Extermination is but the most dramatic high-impact eradication tactic. Eradication is but one containment strategy. Physical barriers, and behavioral and reproductive interventions, offer more durable long-term effectiveness, especially defense against reinfestation.
5. Extermination will likely be temporary reduction only.
In this situation, one-time euthanization is likely an unsustainable "solution" requiring additional kill campaigns repeated indefinitely. Efforts on Orcas to eradicate exotic invasive bullfrogs trigger bullfrog lovers and hunters to reintroduce them into cleared wetlands. Any successful rabbit eradication by kill-off fails to inoculate the ecosystem from unpreventable reintroduction of a breeding pair by a sole actor in disagreement with the killing.
Who at Parks will claim to be surprised when it's discovered that someone has intentionally reintroduced rabbits after a 100%-complete kill-off? Reintroduction, perhaps of a more troublesome strain, seems the inevitable outcome of extermination, given the bullfrog history on Orcas and the depth of opposition within the San Juan Island community.
Tim White
Bryn Barnard Writes to the President of the United States
Dear President Obama,
Here's an opportunity to save 500 helpless beings from destruction.
For the last 140 years, a colony of rabbits has lived a large meadow on San Juan Island in what is now American Camp National Historical Park. The numbers have gone up and down, as the rabbits breed and feed foxes, eagles, and other predators.
The rabbits are essential to the maintenance of the prairie, which is core to the visual identity of American Camp. The rabbits constant nibbling reduces the danger of fire and is essential to the maintenance of the Park's active dune system, which hosts three plant species that exist no where else on our island. The rabbits are also extraordinarily popular with islanders and with tourists, who are essential to the island economy.
The National Park Service has spent years and much taxpayer treasure trying to suppress the rabbits. The NPS has fenced the rabbits, sprayed their burrows with Monsanto Roundup
(poisonous to rabbits), introduced rabbit pathogens, and tried to gas them in their warrens. Now the NPS wants to hire hunters to exterminate the rabbits.
The purported goal of this extermination campaign is to get rid of an invasive animal species, reintroduce native grasses and to provide habitat for the marble butterfly (which ironically, prefers to feed on another invasive species, European mustard). This is chauvinism masquerading as science.
Islanders have complained, held protests, petitioned and written letters to the NPS during its official comment period (which ends tomorrow), asking the Park to leave the rabbits alone.At a NPS public meeting last week, the overwhelming majority of attendees (over 95% ) made it clear they opposed the rabbit kill.
The Park superintendent, Peter Dederich, responded that our opinions are irrelevant, that this is not a popularity contest. The media, Fox news in particular, is having a field day, casting the NPS in the role of Elmer Fudd and the wascally wabbits in the role of Bugs Bunny.
Killing the rabbits is bad for the rabbits, bad for tourism, bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and a waste of taxpayer money.
But the NPS seems to be deaf and blind.
Please intervene. Please show that Government can be responsive to the citizenry. The rabbit kill is scheduled very soon. To stop it, you need to act quickly.
Thank you.
Bryn Barnard
LETTER TO THE PARK SERVICE
by Nancy DeVaux
I am writing to ask you to please abandon the plan to attempt to restore the ecosystem at American Camp National Historic Park to its pre-historic condition. White European settlers arrived on San Juan Island only 160 years ago, with the rabbits shortly thereafter. The purpose of the historic park is to commemorate the peaceful settlement of a land dispute between the European settlers. Now the goal pf the NPS has shifted, to futilely attempting to bring back the land to its pre-farming, pre settlement condition, accomplished by such extreme measures as poisonous chemicals and guns. These strategies are having even worse impacts, creating a place of death rather than the previously thriving landscape, with lots of animals and raptors. Now, starving foxes are wandering around and there is not a bunny to be seen. If there are a few left, the Park Service plans to kill them. For those humans who live here, most of whom are of European descent, the philosophy of eradicating a species because it is of European origin is rather ironic, at least. .
I live within a few miles of the Park and have lived on San Juan island since 1975. I have a MA in Environmental Policy from Western Washington University. I love American Camp and walk there several days a week, year round. I do not believe the plan is in the best interest of the land or the people and urge you to reconsider this approach. No Killing or poisons, please.
Sincerely,
Nancy DeVaux
Four Reasons to Save the Rabbits
by Bryn Barnard
1) Compassion. Shooting the rabbits causes needless suffering.
2) Ecology. The rabbits’ nibbling and burrow-making plays a vital role in the maintenance of the active dune system in the park, the only dune system on San Juan Island and the only home on the island to three endemic plant species, including yellow verbena. Remove the rabbits and the dunes will eventually be replaced by grassland. Those endemic plants will be eliminated from San Juan Island.
3) Economy. The Park admits the current rabbit-fox ecosystem is self-regulating, keeping the population relatively stable with no monetary outlays by the Park. Removing the rabbits will require the Park to maintain the prairie grassland through repeated mechanical and chemical intervention. This is a poor use of scarce taxpayer dollars
4) Tourism. The rabbits are a tourist attraction nearly as popular as the orcas. Those tourists bring vital dollars into the island economy. In the midst of a recession, anything that reduces the attractiveness of the island to tourists may damage island businesses, and should be avoided.
BrynBarnardStudio
360 378 6355
More from Tim White:
Hi there Heart-Havers.
The doc quoted below (red & bold by me) makes clear that the marbles are far from sacrosanct; NPS has planned intentional permanent destruction of many acres of prime marble habitat to facilitate cars to get to them and people to walk in their habitat.
I am not delivering news to NPS that “Cultural Landscape Restoration”--and any other "restoration"--has nothing inherently to do with native spp vs. nonnative, and that this issue is put forth, apparently, as a marketing jingle as part of a disingenuous red herring issue to put down dissenting voices.
NPS asserts here that they want to remove the rabbit warrens because the disturbed ground may well be prime habitat for new populations of exotic invasive nonnative mustards upon which the marbles feed.
The NPS here is committed to transplanting marbles from one invasive mustard plant to others in new areas in & out of the Park, and to encourage private landowners to plant exotic invasive mustards all over the island for the marbles. They accept that this is a long-term plan, and perhaps a permanent state of affairs. This plan is clearly counter to the concept of "restoration" and elimination of non-natives as "wrong" or "bad" for nature & science.
To my mind, encouraging mustards for the marbles is a good idea promoting a value I share. What I resist is the NPS sales pitch knowingly misrepresenting "prairie restoration" as somehow a scientifically defined or determined value. It's tempting to think one can get away with a "Dr. Science" case against the rabbits, because science is cold and impersonal and can take the "hit" for killing the last rabbit. But NPS knows, at least the scientists among them, that the entire debate, if honest and on-point, is framed in terms of human cultural values, not innate scientific values assigned by nature to particular plants and animals in particular places at particular times.
"Native and non-native," as well as "restoration" itself, are all human cultural constructs of socio-aesthetic judgment. That I personally share these values is akin to religious belief, not science. In any given ecosystem, it is not possible for ecologists to survey and produce a catalog naming native and non-native species without recourse to the historical record, fossil record, or some record of the past or of distant lands. "Natives" are valuable in the way "weeds" are disvalued--because we say so, not because they are favored or disfavored by Mama Nature.
Science has nothing to say about the presence or absence of marbles or mustards or rabbits or foxes or Caucasians in the Park. None has inherent value, or right or wrong, or good or bad, or is good management or bad degradation. What to encourage, what to discourage, is a human judgment call, and as such it should be decided by informed public policy debate, not tut-tutting rabbit lovers for being non-scientific obstructionists to rational eco-thinking.
That said, management for cultural reasons is not a bad idea. At Thanksgiving I take special pleasure in feasting with friends on food plants native to N America. On Columbus Day I pull tansy.
Easter is hardly a propitious, culturally enriching day for shooting rabbits. And every day is Resurrection.
Yerz truly, T
A Conservation Agreement and Strategy for the Island Marble Butterfly (Euchloe ausonides insulanus Guppy & Shepard) Final
Between the San Juan Island National Historical Park, National Park Service And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
October 31, 2006
http://www.nps.gov/sajh/parkmgmt/upload/finalimbca.pdf
Subsequent surveys by
Ann Potter, John Fleckenstein, James Miskelly, Robert Pyle and others have found the butterfly
elsewhere on San Juan Island and in a few locations on Lopez Island. More than 150 distinct
localities were surveyed, including potential grassland habitat on more than 16 islands and
within 6 counties of Washington. As far as is known, just San Juan and Lopez islands comprise
this taxon's sole global occurrence, making it one of the most restricted U. S. endemics.
The Island Marble is currently known to occur chiefly in upland grassland at American
Camp, SAJH, with a satellite sub-population around the eastern shore of SAJH, and to a lesser
extent at other upland sites on San Juan and Lopez islands...
While the bay subpopulation utilizes the native Lepidium peppergrass, the grassland/upland
subpopulations are so far known to feed only on two non-native, invasive mustards, field
mustard (Brassica campestris ) and tall, tumble mustard (Sisymbrium altissimum), with some
oviposition on kale (Miskelly, pers. comm., 2006). This situation has created an enigmatic
management challenge whereby a species of high concern depends upon non-native species
whose eradication in native-dominated habitats, if not a priority, would be otherwise desirable.
...
Proposed Management Actions within American Camp
...
The impacts of this road construction could result in up to 13 acres of temporary loss of
Island Marble butterfly habitat due to road construction activities and clearing, removing the
Island Marble’s larval food plants and adult nectar sources. Long-term, approximately 3 acres of
permanent habitat would be lost.
...
The historic redoubt and site of the Belle Vue Sheep Farm are significant cultural
resources located on the American Camp prairie. Future actions to stabilize and preserve these
resources are possible and could be expected to involve subsurface excavation and surface
clearing with recurring grounds maintenance. Native plantings and ramps or boardwalks have
been suggested as possible treatments for the redoubt; these would be carefully planned and
coordinated. The total area involved is small, about two acres, and impacts to Island Marble
habitat from any proposed action would be highly localized.
...
The National Park Service has programs in place (and is developing additional programs)
to restore the American Camp grasslands to a more native ecological condition, as part of what
can be more broadly termed, “Cultural Landscape Restoration.” The tools being used to achieve
restoration goals include prescribed burning, mechanical and/or chemical control of invasive
plants (including certain woody invasives), and planting of native grasses and forbs. However,
the nearly unique presence of the Island Marble, and its dependence on non-native hostplants,
creates distinct management challenges. Although early efforts in this direction inspired
controversy, they also spurred dialogue among interested parties. It was first feared that
herbicide and prescribed fire treatment of an experimental plot south of the redoubt in 2005 had
caused significant mortality of marble eggs and larvae. This may have been the case. However,
2006 surveys revealed abundant regrowth of the host mustards, and prolific visitation of these
mustards by adult Island Marbles. In the absence of experimental population assessment before
and after, the exact response cannot be certain. The net effect can only be guessed. However, it
seems likely that the treatment resulted both in initial mortality and subsequent strengthening of
the population. This management exercise usefully demonstrated that the potential clearly exists
for a long-term, positive response from restoration work with the understanding that short-term
negative effects may result.
It is expected that the long-term result of grassland restoration will mean stronger Island
Marble populations, due to an increase in native nectar sources and a reduction of competing
weedy vegetation and shrubby succession, as long as the host mustards remain robust.
...While the disturbance caused by
rabbits in small numbers might prove beneficial to the non-native mustard hostplants, the virtual
absence of plants in the heavily populated rabbit warrens argues against the presence of rabbits
as a positive factor. ... The rabbit warrens, once rabbitfree,
might well prove highly suitable for mustard expansion along with native grasses and forbs.
...
The NPS agrees to implement the following conservation measures in regards to their
management actions to minimize effect to Island Marble butterflies.
...Where NPS actions are proposed that would cause soil disturbance, conduct surveys of
Island Marble habitat for the presence of host mustards. Any ground disturbing activities
will be positioned where host mustards are absent or sparse. Care will be taken to avoid
habitat with dense stands of Sisymbrium or Brassica and high numbers of marble
sightings. This will also apply to marble nectar locations as well as larval hostplant
incidence.
...
3. For proposed NPS actions in Island Marble butterfly habitat, survey any larval mustard
plants that are present for the presence of eggs and larvae of Island Marbles and
transplant any immatures that are found to host plants outside the activity area. If adults
are observed nectaring in the zone, adults should be netted and transplanted to areas away
from the ground disturbance.
...
The agencies agree to work with landowners through local
extension services and other conservation organizations to promote the establishment of
mustards and associated nectar plants to be maintained on private lands and to educate
landowners about what the occurrence of Island Marble butterflies on their lands might
mean for their land use practices. The agencies also agree to encourage landowners to
provide habitat by planting, or permitting to grow, an array of mustards in waste areas
and along field or roadside edges...
every effort should be
made to ascertain the overall range of the native Puget Sound Peppergrass (Lepidium)
hostplant on beach strand plant communities around Puget Sound. The plant's
propagation, management for increase, and potential introduction to suitable sites should
also be considered, in the hope of reducing the Island Marble's dependency upon nonnative,
invasive species of mustards...
Conclusion
...
We recognize that the unusual necessity of managing around,
with, and even for two non-native, invasive species of plants that would normally be a target for
removal on an NPS unit may limit our ability for restoration to pristine prairie conditions; and
that these plants will probably remain important to the Island Marble's survival into the
foreseeable future.
WRITE AND/OR CALL!
Keep records and copies and send us a copy also if you would like it printed here.
Peter Dederich, Superintendent
San Juan Island NHP
P.O. Box 429
Friday Harbor, WA 98250
(360) 378-2240
Chris Lehnertz (Peter’s boss)
Director
National Park Service Pacific West Regional Office
One Jackson Center
1111 Jackson Center, Suite 700
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 817-1300
Rory Westberg
Deputy Regional Director
National Parks Service Pacific West Region
909 First Ave
Seattle, WA 98104
206 220 4012
Congressman Rick Larsen
(202) 225-2605
(360) 733-4500
(425) 252-3188
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(866) 481-9186
(202) 224-2621 in Washington DC
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
1-888-648-7328
(202) 224-3441 in Washington DC
Governor
Christine Gregoire
360-902-4111
ONLINE PETITION: www.tinyurl.com/rabbitpetition
National Park Service official comment page: www.tinyurl.com/SanJuanRabbits
Link to digital version of the bunny booklet: www.IslandReb.com/Rabbits