A picture of calm at Point Reyes
Photo © Corel

Discovered in 1579 by Sir Francis Drake and located just north of San Francisco, Point Reyes is a collection of coastal and maritime ecological treasures. The 71,000-acre park includes 30 miles of coastline and is home to over 900 species of plants, 490 of birds, 49 of mammals, and 28 species of reptiles and amphibians. The list of rare and endangered species in the park reads like a who's who of high-profile California flora and fauna. Each year, 350 northern elephant seals, once on the brink of extinction, are born on its shores. It is home to mountain lions, rubber boas, and the federally-threatened California red-legged frog. Each January, up to 200 Pacific gray whales can be seen migrating past Point Reyes Headlands.

Point Reyes biologists, park rangers, and volunteers face a constant battle to preserve such biodiversity. Invasive plant species, both terrestrial and aquatic, threaten to throw off the ecological balance in the park. Last October, arborists worked to remove 99 percent of the area's invasive pampas grass, an ornamental plant that has been in the park for decades but with the potential to choke out rare and endangered flora along the cliffs of the Philip Burton Wilderness Area. Volunteers were forced to descend along fixed ropes to clear the last major populations of the plant. "You can't say that it affected this plant or that plant," says park manager John Dell'Osso. "These plants threaten to change the entire ecosystem, from native plants and insects straight up to birds and megafauna."

Later last fall, volunteers and park biologists experimented using a variety of power tools to remove the highly invasive European beach grass. The beach grass was brought to California intentionally to help stabilize sand dunes. "The problem is that dunes in California are supposed to move," says Dell'Osso. For example, the now-stabilized dunes make it harder for the threatened western snowy plover to hide its nests from egg-stealing predators like ravens, the shifting sand being a clever way to throw the scavenging birds off the scent.

Some conservation groups, such as the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), argue that the park doesn't receive the funding it needs to protect its natural resources. Located a mere hour from San Francisco, Point Reyes draws a resource-draining 2.5 million visitors each year. While 40 percent of the park's funding goes to habitat protection, another 50 percent goes to visitor services and maintenance, according to a 2001 NPCA assessment. "Lack of funding for park planning has hindered the Park Service's ability to develop specific plans for significant park resources," the report said, noting that an additional $2.5 million in funding is needed to adequately protect the park.

Since 2000, Point Reyes has been successful in securing private/public partnerships, philanthropic donations, and volunteers to help meet visitor service and natural-resource protection goals. Volunteers have provided over 50,000 hours in programs like harbor-seal monitoring, invasive plant removal, and coastal restoration since 2001. "We have a number of habitat restoration projects, from rebuilding streams to save endangered fish to removing non-native plants all over the park," Dell'Osso says. "We can always use volunteers." (Contact Doug Hee, Point Reyes' volunteer program coordinator at 415-464-5145 for more information.)

Move on to Shenandoah National Park

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