Oyster Farm Fight- Aw Shucks...Can't We Just All Get Along?

You'd think being around all those oysters would make Kevin Lunny a lover, not a fighter.  But these days, the Drakes Bay Oyster Company owner is all about the fight.  Lunny, who's oyster career began when he purchased the West Marin business from the Johnson Oyster Company back in 2005, is currently in a pitched battle with the National Park Service in order to remain in business.

Scientists and activists and reporters, oh my!

The lobby of the the decidedly plush Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley, is packed this morning, with all manner of folk including scientists, government agency officials, activists, farmers & fisherman, reporters and hangers-on.  We all squeeze into the conference room where some of us are about to get the opportunity to become familiar with terms like anthropogenic stress, upwelling and substrate. 

Welcome to a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), gathered here in Marin to consider the scientific ramifications of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company (DBOC) operation in Drakes Estero. 

The prestigious NAS panel members will listen to various experts on both sides of the issue, on the impact that DBOC is having- or not having- on the local environment.  Then the whole lot of us are going to the DBOC processing site to get a closer look at the operation and to take a boat tour of the oyster grounds.  Tomorrow sounds a bit more exciting than today, at least to this reporter.

The panel gets comfortable, we get comfortable and the first speaker begins his presentation.

How did it come to this?

A history lesson.

It's a very complicated story but here's the Reader's Digest version-

Drakes Estero, where the Drake's Bay Oyster Company (DBOC) is located, is part of the Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS), a pristine, 70,000 acre nature preserve located in West Marin.  About 75 years ago, the state of California issued bottom leases in Drakes Estero to the Coast Oyster Company, which then owned land at end of Schooner Bay.  Johnson Oyster Company (JOC) bought the property in the 1950s and operated as a profitable oyster production company for years.  In 1962, PRNS was officially created- part of the National Parks Service (NPS)- and the following decade in 1972, JOC sold their land to NPS subject to a type of lease called a "reservation of use and occupancy" for an acre and a half of the land in which to continue to conduct business. The lease is good for 40 years and expires in 2012.   Four years later in 1976, a large chunk of PRNS was designated a wilderness, and the area in Drakes Estero- because there was an aquaculture business already in place- a potential wilderness.  Fast forward to 2004, a year before the Lunny's purchased the business from JOC.  The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) which continued to manage the bay water areas where the oysters are cultivated, extended their lease another 25 years to expire in 2029.  The Lunnys buy the property the following year.  In 2006, the NPS makes clear their intention to honor the expiration date on the lease and close down DBOC in 2012.

Naturally, the Lunny's don't want this to happen. 

They would like an extension of the NPS land use lease to match the bottom water use lease from the CDFG giving them an expiration of both leases, on a total of 1,060 acres, in the year 2029.  But, you might say, the Lunny's were fully aware of the NPS lease expiration date when they purchased the business, and you would be right. 

However, it's really not that simple.

A family of farmers.

If you wanted to pick a poster child for organic, sustainable and overall good land stewardship here in Marin, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone as conscientious as Kevin Lunny.  Lunny is a third generation West Marin resident, who grew up with a view of the DBOC grounds.  His family leased nearby G Ranch from RCA for several generations, where they raised cattle; first for dairy and later for beef.  Eventually, the Lunny's property, like many of their neighbor-ranchers, was sold to the NPS with a right for the ranchers to lease the land back.  The family continued to operate a traditional beef ranch through the 1990s until a few years ago when Kevin had an idea.

The organic movement had been picking up steam and Kevin decided to make the transition from traditional farming methods to organic, grass-fed beef production practices.  His was the very first Marin beef farm- and also the largest- to go organic.  He continued to press for ways to further sustainable agriculture on the ranch and was also able to transform 500 acres into organic pasture. He also planted several acres of organically grown artichokes. Kevin sits on the board of Marin Organic, the big kahuna for organic food production practices in the county.

Lunny says he has applied those same ecological and stewardship practices to his oyster farm as well.

Not so, say the activists.

The world is your oyster.  Or not.

"Our mission is to manage to that very, very high level of naturalness."

Jon Jarvis, Regional Director of the Pacific West Region of the NPS is in the middle of his opening remarks to the panel of scientists.  He's providing context for the NPS' position on the National Park system in general, and Drakes Estero in particular. 

Frankly, few can argue with the position of the NPS, whose mission statement promises to 'conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein...[and] leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.'

Unimpaired is not the way the NPS believes DBOC is leaving Drakes Estero. 

And several local environmental groups- the California Coastal Commission, the Marin Audubon Society, the Marin chapters of the Sierra Club and the Environmental Action Committee to name a few- agree with the NPS.

For nearly the past two years, the NPS has accused DBOC of harming the delicate environment there by damaging the eelgrass from boat propellers, producing increased sediment buildup from oyster waste and the most damaging assertion of all, causing a decline in harbor seal populations within specific breeding and pupping grounds.

But Lunny has his supporters too. 

Every oyster has its pearl.

"In 1991, here's a map showing oyster racks that are not in areas with eelgrass.  And in 2007, we've got a map showing that the eelgrass has actually doubled [in Drakes Estero]."

Tom Moore, the California Fish & Game rep, is in the middle of his spiel and he's showing said maps in a power-point.  He is a big supporter of the Lunnys. 

Aside from the obvious benefits- such as eating- cultivating, farming and harvesting oysters can be a remarkably ecologically-oriented practice.  Lunny recognized that when he decided to purchase DBOC from JOC in 2005.  Although the business itself was in pretty bad shape (JOC had neglected its buildings, boats and oyster beds), Lunny was prepared to invest time and money to make it right.

In fact, the NPS had such serious issues with JOC, that in 1992 they and the CDFG drew up specific guidelines for the JOC (and subsequent owners) to adhere to in their oyster farming practice. 

Additionally, Lunny inherited a cease & desist order from the California Coastal Commission (CCC) issued to the JOC in 2003, that demanded certain repairs and improvements required to bring the buildings into code.  He's still working to complete the repairs, but can't finish until the NPS gives him a permit to remodel the buildings.  More on that later.

Kevin spent serious money to rectify a lot of the damage done by his predecessor.

Even the NPS guys admit that.  Their spokesperson, John Dell' Osso was quoted in a February 2006 article in the Pacific Sun-

"Kevin has done a fantastic job of cleaning up.  Everything we've asked him to do, he's done."

The Lunnys also devoted considerable effort into developing a successful and profitable oyster business.  They use oyster seed stock of the Pacific oyster, a non-native Asian variety which they get from the Pacific Northwest.  The native Olympia variety is too small for commercial use and grows too slowly.  Nearly all west coast commercial growers farm the Pacific oyster. 

Growing oysters requires no food, fertilizer and very little energy to harvest.  They filter the water, making it cleaner.  The shells can be pulverized for mulch, or recycled.  Oysters provide protein-rich food from a small carbon footprint.  And the Lunny's produce 80% of the shellfish grown in Marin.

The Lunny's also have their share of backers in the County. The Alliance for Local Sustainable Agriculture, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Marin Organics and others have rallied to their side.

Bring in the big guns.

"Beware of what you hear!"

Dr. Corey Goodman is the pebble in NPS' shoe.  He's beginning his presentation, which while packed with graphs, bars and charts, feels more like a rant.

As the accusations zinging back and forth between the Lunny's and the NPS became more pointed, other government agencies became involved. 

In May of 2007, both Kevin Lunny and the NPS presented their case to the Marin County Board of Supervisors. The Supes in turn unanimously voted to request Senator Dianne Feinstein's office to intercede on behalf of DBOC.  Shortly after that, she issued a statement indicating she was in support of allowing DBOC to operate under the current lease, but she did not address the issue of renewal.

It was around this time that Goodman issued a statement calling into question the damage claims asserted by the NPS against DBOC. He accused the NPS of publishing conclusions based on faulty data.  He went even further, alleging potential scientific misconduct citing misrepresentation of data in order to purposely mislead. 

In the scientific community, that's tantamount to someone ladling out a nasty insult about your mom.

Stung by Goodman's accusation, the NPS removed the questionable report from its website and posted an "acknowledgment of errors" online instead.

Two previously published independent scientific studies that had been carried out by both UC Davis and NPS employees- concluded little, or no ill effects from the DBOC oyster farming business on the Estero. One of the studies led to a masters thesis in 2004, by one of the authors.

Still, for months the NPS continued their assertions verbally, and on paper, that DBOC was wreaking havoc on Drakes Estero.

In order to get the actual data from the Park Service that supposedly supported their allegations of seal disturbances, Corey Goodman had to file two request under the Freedom of Information Act, more commonly referred to as FOIA.

According to a July 2007 article in the Pt Reyes Light, what followed was a flurry of articles in publications ranging from the Sierra Club to the NPS website containing more misleading information in order to justify their point of view.  The Light and other scientists apparently found similar chunks of discrepancies, leading them to believe the material was from the same source.

Was there a concerted effort to discredit DBOC in order to get rid of the operation?

The bottom line.

"This is a product that is produced and sold typically in San Francisco and other local areas that contributes significant economic value to our area."

Stacy Carlson, the Marin County Agricultural Commissioner is at the podium, talking dollars and cents, a nice break from all the science and charts.

Obviously, the Lunnys would not have purchased the business if they didn't think they could make a return on their investment before the lease expired in 2012.   As it is now, Kevin Lunny has previously stated that he'll be lucky to get out by the skin of his teeth.

Tom Moore of the CDFG says that anyone who wanted to purchase the property from JOC in 2005, needed to show a business plan for profitability, and an ability to show that they had enough funds to clean up the place.   He said the Lunnys demonstrated that. 

When Kevin Lunny started to rehabilitate the oyster business, he applied for permits to remodel and repair the existing buildings.  PRNS has never issued him the permits, citing boundary issues.  Remember a few paragraphs above where we mentioned the CCC cease & desist?  They were demanding repairs that Lunny could not perform because the NPS would not issue him a permit. 

Still with us?

In July of 2007, Senator Feinstein herself- presumably as fed up by now as the Lunnys- visited the site and ordered the NPS to move forward with the permit process. 

Interestingly enough the very same PRNS Superintendent Don Neubacher who had denied the permits for the Lunnys, had floated plans with JOC a few years back to build a large, two-story oyster processing plant on the very same spot.  The project was designed and ready to go, but JOC decided they would not, or could not build the new complex. 

For all their insistence returning Drakes Estero back to wilderness, one has to wonder why the NPS would ever have considered building something more expensive and more permanent on the disputed land.

Back to the future.

"We're third generation ranchers...and we're taking this journey to distill the truth in this situation."

Kevin Lunny and his wife, Nancy are facing the room full of people.  They, and a few others in the audience are being allowed a few minutes to express their feelings to the panel.  Unfortunately the only thing the panelists can really consider, is science.

Last April, when all the oyster feces began to hit the fan, the Lunnys requested an investigation by the Department of the Interior.

That report became public on July 11 of this year, and it accused the NPS of misrepresentation and exaggeration of facts in its claims against Lunny. 

But Lunny didn't get off scot free either.  The report said that some  of the allegations of abuse that DBOC lodged against the NPS were unsubstantiated.  And it said there was no indication that NPS were planning to shutter DBOC before the expiration date of 2012.

The report does not make any recommendations about whether or not to extend the lease to Kevin Lunny. 

"We've seen a lot of charts and graphs today, and I wish we could have seen some graphs showing the level of intensity between the National Park Service and Drakes Bay Oyster Company."

Fred Smith of Environmental Action Committee (EAC) has just made that clever quip to the panel.  He adds that he wishes a pinneped (seal) expert were also on the panel.  Presumably his intent was not to insult the scientists but their backs are to me so I can't see their facial expression when he says this.

One by one, supporters of the DBOC, or those who want to see it shut down, get up and have their five minutes of fame. 

Michael Greenberg looks equally like he wants to cry, or punch someone-

"All of us are looking just for the truth," he says tightly, "We have a divided community who can't even say hello to each other in the hallway."

Gordon Bennett, a Sierra club representative, says he wishes there was a seal expert on the panel, but it's what he says next that gets my attention-

"I have information from two sources that says the previous owner used 24 D to clear some areas of eelgrass."

What the heck is 24-D? 

Actually it's 2,4-D he's talking about; an herbicide apparently still widely used for weed control.  It seems pretty inflammatory to just toss something like that out so casually before taking his seat.

Brian Stump stands up and although he also describes himself as a Sierra Club member, he's not in their court this time-

"I didn't realize it was broke. I think sometimes people go over the deep end and maybe the cattle on the farms do more damage than the oyster farms."  He adds, "Thanks for the science!"

We all need some fresh air.

Kevin Lunny has arranged for the panel and the rest of us, to look into the belly of the beast and come down to DBOC for a tour. The NPS, not wanting to be left out, is also here.  In fact, the infamous Sarah Allan who was slammed in the IG report for putting forth the misleading NPS information, is there and actually giving a little talk.

She's in her park ranger uniform, standing next to NPS Superintendent Neubacher, and pointing to a map of the Estero.  If you didn't know what was going on, you'd totally think this was a cozy little park ranger/park visitor get together. 

Walking nearby Brigid Lunny.  The 20-year old works in the retail shop at the oyster farm.  She's got two brothers but they live away from home.  Brigid has worked for the oyster farm almost from the beginning.  We ask her how the clash between her parents and the National Parks has affected life at home. 

"I don't know what to think about why it's happening.  My family depends on it [the farm]." Then she adds, "It's worrisome."

Five boats are waiting at the dock, and we all pile in.  This is likely the largest group of people ever to be out on Drakes Estero at one time.  As we motor down towards the mouth, Lunny points out various sights.  It's pristinely, beautiful and the water is so clear you can see the highly debated eelgrass waving in the current.

Unfortunately, because we have had such a late start, the tide is high and by the time we reach the oyster racks, they are almost completely submerged. 

All the boats set anchor about midway between oyster bed 15 and oyster bed 20, the boats anchor and we listen as Lunny points out the various oyster beds and where the seals are, which is where the boats aren't according to Lunny.

At one point questions begin to fly, and someone asks Sarah Allen about the harbor seals.  She began to talk about where they haul out (come out of the water to rest or breed) and where she thinks the oyster farming is doing damage.  A questioner asks her about numbers of seals and that a record number of seals have been counted recently.  Sarah hesitates-

"I would say the seal populations are in good shape." 

The questioner asks her if she would say they are "healthy populations." 

"I would say they are healthy overall" she admits. 

Someone else interjected here and asked then why are we still talking about the seals?

"Because they're cute and cuddly!" came the answer from across the boat.

Someone else suggests that a lot of the seal disturbances could have been due to other reasons; hikers, kayakers and natural predators like coyotes.  Allen admits that some of those cause disturbances, but she insists the there have been disturbances due to placing oyster bags in sensitive areas.

Kevin responds to this-

"We've never, ever been told we have a problem where we put the bags."

And so it goes.

Back on shore, we get a chance to talk to Kevin and Nancy Lunny.  We ask them if they were told by the NPS when they purchased the property that there was no chance of renewal.

"We knew the plan was not to renew, but the NPS had the right to renew if they wanted.  But then they wanted us to sign a clause in the permit saying we'd leave for sure in 2012.  And of course we said no."

And in making that decision, Lunny has become involved in the fight of his life.  He has to deal with a Byzantine permit process just to stay in business until the lease expiration date involving the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the California Coastal Commission, the California Dept. of Fish and Game and the California Dept. of Agriculture.  Then there are the various activist groups like the Sierra Club and the Environmental Action Committee who don't want him to stay.  Throw in a few politicians like the County of Marin Board of Supes Senator Dianne Feinstein, then mix it all together with loads of supporters and detractors waiting in the wings and  you've got one heck of a stew.

Make that an oyster stew. 

_____________________________________________
The National Academy of Science panelists will issue a two-part report.  The first part, specific to the Lunny case, will address the "Effects of Commercial Activities in Drakes Estero, Pt. Reyes National Seashore, California"  Those results are expected to be released by years end.

The second part will be more general in nature, "Committee on Best Practices for Shellfish Mariculture," and is due much later.   

MoreMarin has put together a comprehensive list of news stories and reports with respect to the ongoing clash between DBOC and the NPS, dating from 2005 through the present.

MoreMarin will be following the story as it develops.

Comments

[Loretta Murphy]

I very much appreciated reading your blog and hope that you continue to follow this story as more and more information comes to light about the deceptions and unethical practices of both the NPS and the "Gordon Bennett-ites". All too often the truth is buried and the loud and sensationalized lies hold the forefront of the media.