Take Action to Stop the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium!
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area recently released a Superintendent’s Compendium that attempts to implement parts of the withdrawn Dog Management Plan—but without a public process. If the National Park Service gets its way, there will be new restrictions in Marin County, right in the middle of our most popular off-leash areas.
These changes are unnecessary, unjustified and almost impossible to enforce. This also impacts GGNRA lands in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. DogTrekker asks that you continue reading to better understand this new approach and what you can do to once again stop this craziness.
If those changes weren’t bad enough, they are also attempting to change existing definitions to dog walking terms “Unmanaged Dogs” and “Voice Control.” This will ultimately empower the GGNRA to change the status of an off leash area by requiring an immediate recall test for which there is no measure.
Technically, a Superintendent’s Compendium is meant for the introduction of small, noncontroversial changes. The 2019 Compendium is anything but. The changes are significant and mimic what the GGNRA originally wanted to do before it was forced to withdraw the dog plan in 2017 after the dog groups, including Marin County DOG, exposed it’s unlawful process.
Now GGNRA staff are at it again, misusing the Compendium, to try one more time to get what they want. We stopped them last time and we’ll stop them again! Please take the time to read Sally Stephens’ latest article in the SF Examiner, which goes into detail why this latest move by the GGNRA is so bad.
Also, it is very important for you and anyone else who loves to recreate with their dogs in the GGNRA to please comment on the Compendium by Wednesday, November 27, at: goga_public_affairs@nps.gov
Let’s stop the Compendium and show them we still have what it takes to defend our recreational dog walking spaces in the GGNRA!
(Sample Letter)
I am writing to object to the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium for the GGNRA. A compendium is meant for the introduction of minor noncontroversial changes to national parks and national recreation areas. But the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium includes significant changes to dog walking in the GGNRA, which has been the subject of a 10+ year battle that pit San Francisco Bay Area residents and their local lawmakers against the National Park Service.
The proposed changes to dog walking access and terminology related to dog walking are highly controversial and unlawful and should be removed from the compendium. The changes that must be removed from the compendium include:
- Any and all restrictions to dog walking in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin Counties that are not necessitated by immediate safety concerns.
- Any and all changes to the definitions and terms that describe dog walking. Unacceptable changes proposed in the 2019 compendium include new definitions of the terms “managed dogs,” “unmanaged dogs,” and “voice control.”
- Any new restrictions to dog walking at Fort Funston, especially the idea that "signed sensitive restoration areas" automatically forbid dog walking access.
- The edict that commercial dog walking will not be allowed in San Mateo County. To the contrary, the GGNRA should extend the commercial dog walking permit process to San Mateo.
The people of the San Francisco Bay Area are adamant that dog walking in the GGNRA be guided by the 1979 Pet Policy, including San Mateo County’s historic dog walking access. And we will not allow the National Park Service to misuse the compendium process to implement parts of the highly controversial Dog Management Plan that we forced the Park Service to withdraw in 2017.
Posted on: June 30, 2022