Dog advocates at victory celebration – Top left: Huey Johnson (Resource Renewal Institute), Christine Corwin (Coastside Dog), Cassandra Fimrite (Marin County DOG), Navi Dhillon (Morrison Foerster), Sally Stephens (SFDog), Chris Carr (Baker Botts), Dave Emanuel (Save Our Recreation), Bottom left: Andrea Buffa (Save Our Recreation), Mel Barti (MCD), Laura Pandapas (MCD), and Marin County Supervisor Kate Sears
Dog advocates who helped defeat the National Park Service’s plan to curtail dog-walking in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area gathered at Muir Beach for a victory celebration last weekend, and there were lots of smiles and wagging tails on display. Here’s what the leaders of the campaign had to say:
Chris Carr, Baker Botts, lead attorney in the fight to get the federal government to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act: “It’s very gratifying that the National Park Service formally withdrew the proposed dog rule and cancelled the corrupt planning process that produced it." Read more from Chris here.
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Sally Stephens, San Francisco Dog Owners Group: “The National Park Service's withdrawal of the dog plan that they had spent decades and millions of dollars trying to implement was an official acknowledgment that the plan was fatally flawed”. Read Sally's full quote here.
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Andrea Buffa, Save Our Recreation: “This is a huge victory for the people of the Bay Area. For years, we’d been telling the park service that dog walking is an important form of recreation for us: it’s part of our way of life." Read Andrea's full quote here.
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Cassandra Fimrite, Marin County DOG: “The win is a reminder that ripples of activism can turn into a tidal wave of unstoppable change. We halted the planning process, 16 years in the making, that was not based upon need or science, which is totally unprecedented”. Read Cassandra's full quote here.
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Christine Corwin, Coastside Dog: “The withdrawal of the Dog Management Plan means that a valued way of life on the coast will continue. Our hope is that the end of the Dog Management Plan is the beginning of a positive and productive relationship with the National Park Service. Read Christine's full quote here.
Posted on: June 30, 2022