Sitting Deep

We were watching a 2006 YouTube meme of a deaf-mute girl, Stacy Westfall riding at a horse show sans saddle and bridle. It's pretty amazing piece of showmanship given the amount of time she had to work with the horse—only three weeks. (Plus her double handicap.)

The video highlights Stacy's integrity as a rider and a trainer, and her ability to get the horse to trust her. Pure obedience. Being at one with the horse. 

That got me to thinking. It seems I can't observe anything without analyzing it. Where most people would go OMG, OMG! I was analyzing it as a fellow rider. And weighing in. No sentimental claptrap here. 

Then it came to me that the particular skillset required to be an exceptional equestrian or trainer was the power of observation. Phillip (that lover of horses) was vexed that his prize Bucephalus was untamable. Phillip's son, Alexander the Great, noticed that the horse was afraid of his own shadow. So he turned the horse toward the sun, and was able to mount him. In order to be able to read horses, sometimes you just have to turn toward the sun.

The horse the deaf-mute girl's riding is a good, honest hard-working quarterhorse. Babydoll stops true and square on her slides—that makes the quarterhorse justly famous (think of when a cowboy ropes a cow and the horse sits back on its haunches and comes to a screeching halt). Babydoll is evenly spaced on her rollbacks in both directions. (I'll explain that term later). 

Babydoll switches her leads (changes her front legs from left to right at a gallop) like a dream—what we used to call a pushbutton horse. However, it's all done with the shifting of your weight and subtle leg commands, which are dressage signals that date back to before the founding of Rome—no voice commands are needed. 

What the audience also doesn't know, of course, is that the girl using the horse's mane like reins to signal the horse. You can see her gather the mane up like reins, and then pick it up. Those are rein signals. The horse is listening to those commands. Watch her ears.

However, the critical rider in me noted that Stacy's seat was a little off. A seat is how you physically sit on the horse, and balance is critical. Your posture (back) changes depending on the horse's gait. Like leaning into a curve on a bicycle. You can tell that Stacy usually rides in a saddle. No matter, it's all very impressive riding. 

Stacy needs to sit down a little deeper, drop her heels down, keep her toes pointed up and forward, not hanging loose like that, then she'll be truly at one with the horse. You can see she's a little off balance, leaning a little too forward. And if the horse ever decided to turn suddenly, of her own accord... Makes you hold your breath in fear.

Believe it or not, I used to do that sort of thing too—ride sans saddle or bridle. It wasn't particularly difficult if you grew up on horseback and had no saddle to begin with, let alone a foam and canvas saddlepad with hokey stirrups you couldn't trust as the pad would slip around the horse if you put more weight on one side versus the other. Riding at a right angle to the horse at half-mast always concluded with meeting the ground head-on. 

I also have a dent in my skull where my horse misinterpreted one voiceless command. Chiquita, a rescue horse, was my first horse. I spent all my free time on her bony back—she was older than dirt. I had no saddle. 

The siren call to a friend's barn, and she took a shortcut up the other unused driveway at a full gallop and I went sailing straight ahead as she turned right—I was doing a kneeling liberty spread with my knees cradled in the hollow of her withers and backbone (what was I thinking?) We'd done it many times before, but when she did an exit, stage right, well... I was cocky, oversure. Mistake. Talk about crossed wires. I was lucky I didn't get a concussion.

When I was young, I wanted to grow up to be a Lippizanner, or maybe Bucephalus. I knew were every Flying A gas station with the red flying horse was, I could recite Pegasus's lineage.  I knew all the stages of horses from eohippus to equus. I was that kind of horse-crazy for all things horses. 

Horses were my link to the world, to my emotions—my heart. I, who had been pawned off onto my grandmother after my grandfather's death by my mother who wanted to follow her dream of show biz. I was a fragile child but I hid it beneath a tough carapace. I became mute. Horses were my Beatrice, my way out of the seventh ring of hell. They offered me succor and solace. They are the ultimate empaths.

I used to work as a rider for Edie Lehman, at Rafter L Ranches training stable so I rode a lot of horses and Edie gave me lessons that were based on dressage and feeling the horse with your legs—thigh and calf communication to the front of the girth meant one thing, to the back of the girth, to turn or move sideways. 

The heel command was rarely used unless the horse was lazy or not "listening" to your leg commands. It was always a matter of body over voice. Every nuance of leg and shifting of weight, was a specific signal. Watch a dressage horse in action.

True, we used reins and saddle, sometimes the arena wall—especially in practicing rollbacks. I'd gallop full speed straight toward the corrigated wall, and signal with my legs for Bart, a big-boned bay horse from Minnesota, to suddenly switch gears and roll either right or left. It was always harrowing and exciting practicing rollbacks. 

Then, the real test was that I had to do it again for Edie, a rollback in the middle of the arena. No walls to help you. If Bart was lazy, he'd overshoot the mark. That's why we did a lot of wall practice, to teach him to slide into the wall, and rear left or right, twisting over his hind legs that were skidding toward the wall. He was a big horse. 

This is a maneuver better suited for dainty Arabians and chunky quarterhorses quick on their feet, not a Big Mack truck of a horse who stood 16 plus hands tall. But Bart was tough. He survived Minnesota winters. He didn't DO mollycoddling or barns. The first six years he was in California, be never even bothered to grow a winter coat.

 It's funny how dropping your heels and lifting your toes up and parallel improves your seat and balance—not at an angle like that (sure, when we rode our own horses dinkering around on fireroads we all slouched like that) but NEVER in the arena when riding professionally. I guess that's what it is, sitting deep. I like that idea. Sitting deep.

Horse Chestnuts

If I hadn't met Sweet Old Bob, if I hadn't gone to Europe for the summer of my 19th year, I would've been Edie Lehman's permanent rider. We were showing quite a bit locally and I was supposed to show horses for Rafter L Ranches at the California State fair in Sacramento.

But first love, and Europe beckoned. Edie said, Well, have a nice life. It didn't quite work out that way. But how was I to know?

I was always pretty good rider, having worked my way up via all sorts of sundry ungulates. Donkeys, ponies, Mr. Smits, the runty steer, and any ornery horse that no one else wanted to ride, as I didn't have one of my own—so I was the local charity case. 

When I was about 12, Nick Kobseff and my aunt Canice saved Chiquita, a bright bay horse with a long back, long enough for three skinny girls to climb aboard—from the glue factory. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven—no matter that my MOTHER used to ride her as a girl!

Chiquita was originally from the defunct Lagunitas livery stable at Speck McAuliffe's Lagunitas Lodge—my family used to winter-board their horses. Baby Snooks was another livery war veteran who lived down the road. I remember him, but never rode him—we've photos of my mom and aunt with him. Big temperamental fellah. Mean too. He’d grab your shoulder in his jaws and shake you like a rat. Like Brandy, the Tennessee saddlebred who lived at Rautio’s place.

My grannie said that her father, Michael Walsh in Bantry, was something of a horse whisperer. So I guess it runs in the family. Certainly the love of horses ran deep.

In those days, there were few people with horse trailers out in the valley, so the old horses tended to circulate from family to family like old coinage. Sometimes a neighbor needed to borrow a "lawnmower" to mow down the spring grass before it became a fire hazard. And if the horse decided he liked his new digs better, he often stayed on. That's how I wound up with an extra pony or two. Nobody in town wanted our old horses. No papers, long in tooth, not a prestige kind of thing.

Owning horses was a habit that died harder for some than for others. Old Pete, one of the last cowboys, who used to take care of all those livery horses when my aunts and uncles were kids, out of long habit, kept a strawberry roan named Lightfoot, in a lean-to on the old railroad bed next to the Tanzis in Lagunitas.

Old Pete'd slouch down on that even older roan gelding and ride into Forest Knolls to the local watering hole, the Forest Knolls Lodge. Pete could roll a cigarette one-handed. He must've been a rodeo cowboy at one point—he had a showy tooled saddle and bridle with reins trimmed with silver rings.

After the bars closed, the old horse always got Pete home to his shiny silver slipstream trailer parked in the greasewood behind Speck McAuliffe's bar—why he didn't drink at Speck's was a mystery. But that bar was within waking distance—not that Pete walked much—bis legs were too bowed. Maybe the ride was the thing.

Don't know if the old roan horse had to sleep in his saddle and bridle after he delivered Old Pete to his doorstep after a night on the town or if Pete took care of the horse on auto-pilot. You could say we grew up at the end of an era. Horsecrazy came with the turf.

I used to win all the trick riding at the local gymkhanas—spear rings with a lance at a full gallop, dollar race—you had to do all these maneuvers bareback with a dollar under your knee. Last one standing sort of thing. Piece a cake for me as I usually rode bareback as I couldn't afford a saddle.

We did slaloms with poles, barrel racing, and other odd things too—keyhole, relay races, Totally forgot about all that stuff. We were insane little kids. No fear.

One year, I got all fired up by the trick riders at the Grand National—my aunt Jane took me the first year, I saved up all my pennies to go each year—getting into as many events as possible. But, one small difference, they use saddles, saddlepads, or circingles for a reason! Something to grab onto. I didn't get that part. Couldn't afford it.

I was working my way up to a full liberty stand at a full gallop up the Stone’s driveway, sans saddlepad, of course. The horse made an exit, stage right, I went sailing forward. Trajectory became a real concept. It cut my trick riding career short. Also put a dent in my skull.

Supporting a horse on babysitting money at 25 cents an hour was a tough proposition—as things did go wrong. There was the annual worming, and shoeing—I rarely had enough money for that—my horses often went barefoot. Then you had to buy winter feed—horses couldn't survive on grass year round. It all added up. Colic was a real killer. I was in debt to my veterinarian until I was in my 20s—long after the last horse died.

My canny horses had overdeveloped upper lips—practically the same thing as opposable thumbs—they could untie ropes and slip padlock hinges with bolts too. The horses and ponies were regular little Houdinis—especially the ponies. They loved to go on midnight raids. Kept me busy. (At one point I had four ravenous ponies full of themselves).

They would get into my garbage cans that I had converted into feed bins—that's where I kept the oats and molasses pellets. Nothing excites a horse more than the tiny pitter-patter of oats falling into a bucket.

Even the deer joined in to raid my precious feed stash. Sometimes I'd find all my haybales gotten into during the night, turned into vast swirly nests—with all the grain at the epicenter, gone.

So I wrapped the hay in tarps laden with booby traps and stuck long spike nails through rims of the garbage cans but the critters would work the nails loose. It was clearly a challenge the were up to. Game on.

At least the rattling trashcans falling over in the middle of the night was an early warning signal. If the horses overate, I'd have to walk them a bit. Luckily nobody ever foundered—they'd get niacin flush sweats from eating too much grain, and became champion fartists from all the excess gas, but at least they didn't explode.

I finally moved the feed to our basement for safekeeping, That worked out swimmingly for a while—even if it meant it was a longer trek to the corral. Until Chiquita decided to help herself to a little early breakfast. Which meant she not only had escaped from the corral, she had gotten the basement door open too with those prehensile lips. The basement was a real mess, as she'd broken open several bales of hay and fluffed it all up into a billowing sea of hay.

Winky the cat loved to perch on Chiquita's back when she was grazing, so he thought this was an unusual opportunity to hang out with his friend. Well, he jumped up on her back, and she KNEW she wasn't supposed to be in the basement, so she started bucking. Busted by the cat.

I nearly peed my pants, I was laughing so hard. Winky was a little perplexed. He'd never been bucked off a horse before—so, of course, he held on with his claws like a champion bull rider, which merely upped the ante.

I thought the horse was going to kick the basement windows out. Shelves on books went flying this way and that as she squealed and took off for the corral with the cat on her back, clamped on tighter than a tick, his head weaving like a seasick bobble toy while he was planning his exit. He never dreamed he could travel that fast. It took them a long while to patch up their friendship.

What my grannie didn't know was that Chiquita loved coming in the house to say hello and maybe swipe a drink from the kitchen sink. Or browse the sugar bowl, or the fruit bowl on the table. So I guess the basement raid was an extension of that. My horse clearly made house calls.

She was a very curious horse, taking it all in. You could just see her gears working. So this is their corral. She walked cautiously, crouched down like a slinky cat. She picked up her hooves funny as if she was walking in a creekbed, as each step resounded like a hollow drum on the tiled floor. Kathump, thump, thump. She kept her head down with her ears splayed cautiously, as the ceiling was a little too low for her liking.

One time she popped her head into the front door, saw us on the couch and ambled in for a visit. She lipped the newspapers on the table, nosed the teapot, cursilory sniffed at the couches, and decided to explore the rest of the house. The bedrooms didn't interest her, but the bathroom, like the kitchen, was worthy of deeper exploration. She was on a mission.

It was late summer, we always saved our bathwater to dump it down the toilet as the spring ran low, come August. Of course, she thought that too was for her! Unfortunately it was the culmination of three people's conjoined weekly baths: My grannie, me, and my brother. Very brothy. She took a slurp and realized she couldn't back out. It took some negotiating as the bathroom was the size of a single horse trailer.

I don't think Chiquita quite knew she was a horse. She was very gentle and very curious about how we lived. It could've been because of her advance age, that she was so calm and we could do things with her that you wouldn't dream of doing with an any other horse. Or she was just unusual.

When I think back—she could've freaked out in the bathroom and done some real damage. How would I ever explain why there was a horse stuck in the tub? Or get her out if she broke a leg? No way to get a crane in the bathroom to hoist her out.

There just ain't any amount of creative lying strong enough to ameliorate that one. I eventually got busted when she stepped on the front doorstoop and it tore off. I tried nailing it back on with spikes but it was skewed at an angle.

My old friend, Chiquita eventually died at an advanced age—she must've been 35 or more. She just laid down in the middle of her dinner hay pile and went to sleep. Frost had settled on her during the night, and steam rose from in the morning but she was cold. No breath. No amount of nudging from Winky the cat would rouse her. The glue factory knackers got her after all. I was devastated. 

The old adage, if you get thrown from a horse, the only cure is to get back on the horse. In my case, a different horse. To ameliorate my grief, a neighbor bought me another horse from the Olema Stables. Becky Dart, a bright sorrel penny who was related to Dart Bar and the famous thoroughbred, Three Bars. She had Preakness and Derby winners on both sides. A real hotrod—not like Chiquita.

She was the fastest horse in the San Geronimo Valley at the quarter mile. We rode like the wind down the old railroad bed through Samuel P. Taylor Park. Always bareback. All that fire and muscles churning under my thighs.

My second horse died the summer before I went to Europe. It would've killed me to have to sell my mare. Selling the ponies was easy—they were such little monsters—always getting out and into trouble. But my mare was like a sister I never had.

Becky Dart was in spring pasture—at a neighbor's field. The Bianchi's. I checked on her after school and she was fine. But I had a hunch something was wrong and went back to check on her after dinner and found her down and sweating. Nothing should've gone wrong, but it did.

Becky Dart (my last horse)—she died of colic—that's how I hooked up as Edie Lehman's rider. She died in Edie's arena—after a long, violent struggle. 

I walked that horse for 18 hours straight, but she'd twisted her colon—most likely it had ruptured, peritonitis had set in, and she was going insane rearing up and throwing herself all over the place. Bashing into walls. Screaming uneathrly cries that tore you asunder. No way to save her. We had to put her down. A long needle to the heart. I couldn't watch. It devastated me.

Working with Edie at the training stables eased the pain and loss a bit. But I never got attached to them—except maybe Namûn, the Arab gelding. When you have so much horse, there's so much more to love. I never wanted to be that close to a horse again. 

Sweet Old Bob was a real SOB, but I didn't yet know it. It would take me nearly seven years to get the lesson right. I vowed to never let a man get between me and my horses again. Besides, horses are always a better ride.

Oystergate: Drake's Bay Oyster Farm loses lease

"Clem Miller, a US Congressman from Marin County wrote and introduced the bill for the establishment of Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962 to protect the peninsula from residential development which was proposed at the time for the slopes above Drake's Bay. Miller's vision included the continuation of the historic ranching and oyster farming along with the preservation of the grasslands and open scenic vistas. The mix of commercial and recreational uses was the reason the area was designated a National Seashore rather than a National Park."

Schooner Bay, old Johnson's Oyster Point turnoff

I'm not sure if I agree with U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to close historic Drake's Bay Oyster Farm on the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Northern California, in order to redistribute Drake's Estero "to the state of wilderness that Congress designated for it in 1976."

It seems that our local history has been suddenly rearranged to fit the needs of the present tense—with eco-justice warriors riding roughshod on our land, by changing the storyline.

(Map of Drake Estero and proposed wilderness.)

Salazar said, "I believe it is the right decision for Point Reyes National Seashore and for future generations who will enjoy this treasured landscape." Salazar also stated that:

The decision also ensures that, in keeping with the historic use of the land, existing sustainable ranching operations within the national park will continue.
In 1972, the National Park Service purchased the land that housed the oyster operation and the owner reserved a 40-year right to continue its activities through November 30, 2012. —Department of the Interior via Yubanet

Schooner Bay, Oyster Point turnoff

However, all is not how it sounds on paper. In a nutshell: Point Reyes rancher Kevin Lunny purchased the remainder of a 40-year lease on Johnson's historic oyster farm in 2005. Lunny maintained that the agreement he signed in 2005 held a renewal clause that was not accepted by the U.S. Department of the Interior. It specifically did not contain a non-renewable clause.

Salazar said that his decision is “fulfilling Congressional vision for wilderness.” This is in conflict with the original congressional intent of land use which sought to protect the livelihood of the ranchers.

Schooner Bay

It seems there's a massive conflict of interest here: a collusion of fuzzy science, outdated ecological impact reports, and politics—the elephant seal in the room that nobody's addressing. 

Point Reyes National Seashore was designated as a unit of the national park system by Congress in 1962 to protect more than 80 miles of California coastline. —Department of the Interior via Yubanet

[The oyster farm] existed before the creation of the seashore, the permit applies to an area that is within the pastoral zone—“created cooperatively by the federal government and ranchers in the 1960s to protect the land from development and also to continue the tradition of ranching”—not a potential wilderness area. ”—Point Reyes Light

Holding pond; Drake's Estero

Although relatively unmodified by human interventions, especially as compared to highly developed portions of San Francisco Bay, Drakes Estero is not a pristine coastal lagoon. p19 ...other activities in the Point Reyes National Seashore (ranches and recreational use), the ecosystem of Drakes Estero will be affected by both legacy effects of earlier human interventions and also ongoing human activities, even if the oyster farm were closed and all the associated equipment removed. p23 Shellfish Mariculture in Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, 2009

Salazar has singled out historic use of the land via mariculture. or sea-ranching—from ranching. To many folks, Drake's Bay Oyster Farm (DBOF—aka the old Johnson Oyster Farm) was viewed as a prime example of responsible stewardship. 

Lunny supporters and local businesses including Straus Family Creamery, seem to be in agreement that Lunny farmed oysters with integrity and cared for the environment. Lunny turned an ailing historic oyster farm into a clean, sustainable operation. Drake's Bay Oyster Farm attracts some 2.5 million visitors per year, and it's good for the economy—it brings in $85 million with its annual harvest of 460,000 lbs of oysters a year. Lunny claims that the National Park Service fabricated and misrepresented the scientific evidence

The National Park Service paints another darker picture—replete with old, bogus or skewed environmental studies, citing, for example an environmental report originally from New Jersey involving jet skis. . The National Academy of Science said the estero was healthier with the oysters. So, what's really going on here?

While NPS in all versions of Drake's Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary  (2006) accurately depicted the ecological significance and conservation value of Drake's Estero, in several instances the agency selectively presented, over-interpreted, or misrepresented the available scientific information on potential impacts of the oyster mariculture operation. Consequently, Drake's Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary did not present a rigorous and balanced synthesis of the mariculture impacts. Overall, the report gave an interpretation of the science that exaggerated the negative and overlooked potentially beneficial effects of the oyster culture operation. It appears that hasty responses to local stakeholder concerns by NPS led to the publication of inaccuracies and a subsequent series of retractions and clarifications during this process from 2007–2008, which cast doubt on the agency’s credibility and motivation. A lack of coordination among the multiple agencies regulating the mariculture operation also gave mixed messages to stakeholders, fueling the controversy.p71-3 Shellfish Mariculture in Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, 2009

According to today's KQED blog report, "Feinstein and the National Academy of Sciences claimed the National Park Service is trying to get rid of the oyster farm by exaggerating its negative impacts on the environment." 

Not only that, it seems that the NPS Environmental Impact report is fictitious and loaded with flawed science and the required 30-day public comment period required by law has been axed. 

The final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is due out any day, according to Rachel Jacobson, acting assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
The 30-day public comment period required by law will not have ended before November 30, the date the permit expires.
Secretary Salazar has the option of renewing the permit, however, with or without the EIS. His office said he expects to issue a decision next week.
Critics had called for a complete rewrite of draft EIS for a laundry list of reasons, citing scientific studies concluding the farm does no measurable harm to its natural surroundings and could, through adaptive management, continue to operate within a thriving ecosystem. —Point Reyes Light

One bone of contention may be that Lunny, like his oyster farm neighbors in Tomales Bay, expanded the oyster farm to include Manilla clams to make the business viable. But so did the Tomales bay oyster farms—so that can't be the reason.

Besides, the NPS is not in charge of fishing rights—the State of California is. When Johnson sold the lease in 2004, the oyster business was failing. Lunny revitalized it.

Lunny, who owns the historic "G" ranch lease, managed to turn the ailing oyster farm around. He schucked some serious oysters, and expanded the market to carry Drake's Bay Oysters in local grocery stores. DBOF is the last on-site shucking and packing facility in California.

The bivalve harvesting activities occur on about 1,000 acres of the estuary. DBOF, with a staff of 30 employees, operates the only on-site oyster canning facility in the state, and provides 40% of California's oysters. Or I should say: provided. Fukushima oysters, anyone?

Schooner Bay, Home Bay and Drake's Estero.

While some people don't think Lunny should've introduced Manila clam harvesting per se, I understand the concept of diversified farming. Tomales Bay oyster farms grow Manila clams too. BTW, those clams were originally exotic hitchhikers on the Pacific oyster shells during the 1930s, and someone discovered that they tasted good too. So Lunny didn't introduce them to the estero, but to the public.

After all, the oysters that are farmed in both Tomales Bay and Drake's Bay are non-native species. Most shellfish mariculture in the United States is based on non-native species, the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), the Kumamoto oyster (Crassostrea sicamea), and the Manila clam (Venerupis [Ruditapes] philippinarum).

So are the reintroduced Roosevelt elk—the native species, long since extinct.

I would like to have seen the reintroduction of California's native Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida). I know, that confusing. Olympia oysters? Yep. Seed oysterbeds are in trouble in Oregon, due to ocean acidification, so California may be their last stand. The shell mounds in the Coast Miwok midden near DBOC are mostly Olympia oysters.

According to Linda Murphy, "Five types of oysters are grown in North America: The Pacific (Japanese Miyagi oyster); Eastern or Atlantic; European; and Kumamoto." As well as green mussels and Manila clams.

Native Olympia oysters became functionally extinct in the San Francisco Bay Area due to overharvesting and then siltation during the Gold Rush, and from logging finished them off, but in the 1990s, a colony of native oysters, was discovered and is thriving at Point Richmond.

Unfortunately, voracious non-native snails (introduced by oyster farmers) are devouring California's only native oyster in Tomales Bay.

Reintroduced Tule elk.

However, oyster farming in the estero is a long-standing tradition that dates back more than a hundred years. When I was a kid, the shallows of both Tomales Bay and Drake's Estero were lined with "Indian fences" laden with oysters. Now

[Tomales and Drakes Bay] oyster farmers use the French rack-and-bag method of farming. The process begins when they buy seedlings from hatcheries and transplant the seeds, called spats, onto pieces of shell. The fingernail-size spats are raised in mesh cylinders in an aqua nursery until they are about an inch long, then are transferred to mesh bags and tethered to racks and cables in the water to grow to a size of three to four inches — an 18-month-long process. —Linda Murphy

(See a photo of DBOF racks.)

Here's an interesting dilemma: since the native Olympia oysters are no longer filtering Drake Estero waters, the non-native species of bi-valves are scrubbing the Estero—with five finger bays and only one opening to the sea—clean. Remove them, then what? Watch the Estero cloud up and die? Want to clean up an estuary, create super-filtration systems—oyster reefs—that's what they did at Chesapeake Bay.

BTW, removing the oysters will also negatively impact the eelgrass (Zostera marina)—which is dependent on their pseudo-poop for nourishment. Eelgrass worldwide is dying off—except that it grows in abundance in Drake Estero.

... filtration by the cultured oysters could provide additional benefits to eelgrass production by lowering turbidity and adding nutrients because these limit eelgrass distribution and production even in relatively oligotrophic estuaries (Carroll et al., 2008). Thus, sedimentary anoxia induced by DBOC shellfish is unlikely. p27 Oyster enhancement and oyster reef restoration is a major and expanding component of estuarine restoration throughout the United States P28 Shellfish Mariculture in Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, California 2009

Drake's Bay Oyster Farm was the last remaining oyster farm on the point. Lunny, who lost a five-year battle with the feds, wanted to extend his lease with the National Park Service for10 more years. Lunny had a legal right to ask for that extension-Congress, when it created the PRNS, stipulated that the farm leases were to be renewed.

Why is the NPS and Salazar singling out Lunny? Last I heard the Bureau of the Interior and the NPS were not in control of fishing rights in California. Something smells rotten in the state of ....

Oyster farming was an integral part of Marin history and will be deeply missed.

 "It's part of the history, the community and the tradition of a coastal community," Lunny said. "It's a national seashore where working landscapes, agriculture and farming were meant to co-exist."  —KQED

The lease expires on November 30, 2012. Lunny was given 90 days to dismantle his business.

Why I object: When I read several reports, I found that there were some shenanighans going on with either falsified, or vague catch-all ecological impact reports conducted on the eastern seaboard and then retailored to fir PRNS, then pressed into service, courtesy of the National Park Service, et al. It's a case of politics and science as corrupt bedfellows.

I've posted below some interesting articles on the ongoing battle between the Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) administered by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Drake's Bay Oyster Farm. Salazar's recent decision has made more than one rancher uneasy with their mercurial landlord, the NPS. Not if, but when will they be next on the chopping block?

The Interior secretary also has the power to lease the park's lands for dairy and cattle-ranching purposes. Currently there are 15 beef and dairy ranches operating along the Point Reyes seashore. Those ranches will remain open under the decision Thursday.
Oyster farm owner Kevin Lunny, whose family also operates one of the cattle ranches, said he was disappointed by the decision and was still trying to figure out his next move. He had been asking for a 10-year extension of his lease.
"This is going to be devastating to our families, our community and our county," Lunny said. "This is wrong beyond words in our opinion." —Sacramento Bee

Most of the news coverage has been biased towards developing a wilderness marine preserve—supported by the PRNS and the NPS (who are not necessarily the good guys in this case. I understand that, on paper it sounds fantastic. A marine preserve. But shooting the little guy is not the way to go about it. Nor is falsifying ecological reports.

It seems someone's tampered with data and offered blanket reports about the alleged destruction of eelgrass, hitchhiking non-native tunicates (Didemnum vexillum)—not due to human introduction, a non-native marsh snail (Batillaria attramentaria) (introduced by humans), and the possible introduction of invasive protozoan and microbial species (that could've arrived via the Roosevelt elk, cattle, or even someone's chickens)—and then there's the destruction of pinniped pupping habitat.

That is, the habitat of harbor seals—the most common and widely distributed species of the pinnipeds; yes, they are a protected, but hardly an endangered species, nor is Drake's Bay their only pupping grounds.)

...negative interactions between oyster harvest and seal attendance at these subsites do not provide a causal link." p43  None of the scientific research projects within Drakes Estero was designed specifically to assess whether the oyster farm operations were impacting the local harbor seal population..." p47 Shellfish Mariculture in Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, California 2009

But a voracious wayward elephant seal swam into the estero and chomped his way through 40 harbor seals—before they fled the crimes cene.

The invasive species in question is a common tunicate that lives on hard substrate like oyster shells—not on the soft bottom of Drakes Estero—and one that scientists have said will do little damage to marine resources; the eelgrass has in fact doubled over the last several years.

…The multiple federally funded studies conducted in recent years have resoundingly exonerated the oyster farm of environmental harm. —Point Reyes Light

 I won't mention the recent introduction of the non-native snail into Tomales Bay that's drilling the life out of the native Olympia oysters. But the feds are not shutting them down.

Senator Feinstein pointed out that DBOF should be saved because it is a key part of the local rural economy. "The National Park Service's review process has been flawed from the beginning with false and misleading science," she said. We need to support responsible and sustainable farms, and grassroots businesses, not shut them down!

"Drake's Estero and the Point Reyes National Seashore have significant existence, option, and bequest value as protected environmental resources. It is likely that the presence of oyster farming in Drakes Estero has a marginal negative effect on the non-use values of the estero. P66 Shellfish Mariculture in Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, California 2009

PRNS and the NPS have not been traditionally viewed as a good neighbor by many West Marinites. More like a big bully, than a big brother. When the PRNS was first proposed, ranchers were assured of a right to their livelihood via renewable leases. Many ranchers felt that it was either take the offered leases, or hit the road.

Tomales Bay Association sent a letter to Secretary Salazar reiterating those points. Noting that the group existed before the creation of the seashore, the authors emphasized that the permit applies to an area that is within the pastoral zone—“created cooperatively by the federal government and ranchers in the 1960s to protect the land from development and also to continue the tradition of ranching”—not a potential wilderness area. “Simply put, the continued operation of the oyster farm will promote the preservation of cultural heritage that has been part of the area for many generations.”—Point Reyes Light

Schooner Bay and Creamery Bay.

So ranchers accepted the NPS leases, rather than be displaced from their traditional lands. Maybe they should've fought harder for better leases, but when they were up against the federal government, many cowped, then folded. Some fought to keep their land and won. Most did not. Drake's Bay Oyster Farm, the last of its kind, operated on one of those original leases. Lunny wanted to extend his remaining lease 10 more years.

Drake's Bay from Point Reyes.

Outsiders just see the grandeur of the magnificent PRNS park, and know nothing of the countless families and small farms it displaced. What most people don't realize is that the NPS irrevocably changed our lives in West Marin when it created the PRNS—and not necessarily for the better.

The federal government will not ensure employment for those who've lost their livelihood at the development of the PRNS preserve. They didn't do it in the past. Salazar's recent DBOF decision will displace some 35 families, and their homes will be razed.

At least Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) tries to ensure that ranches and dairies can continue to be viable and operate in West Marin, thus preserving them. We need a more sensible approach to land stewardship along the Point Reyes Peninsula that includes and supports local farming endeavors—whether by land or by sea. Not a stewardship comprised of of outside politics and vested interests dressed in fabricated ecological raiments.

Schooner Creek, historic "G" Ranch.

Cicero said, Nature abhors annihilation. This closure is the annihilation of right livelihood. DPOF is the last remnant of an older way of life on the Point—and it has been found in violation of variable and often contradictory NPS statutes.

The NPS is often found in direct violation of its own statutes too. Power wielded by the beholder swinging a very big stick. I suspect that if the NPS wanted to oust some of the cattle ranchers on the point, they'd utilize the same statutes to void their leases. In other words, we don't trust the NPS to play fair.

(Here's a map of the power structure of the federal, state and local govenrnment agencies that Lunny has had to deal with.

Why I wrote this blog was because someone asked me what the local angle was. I admit that I'm biased—I have a vested interest in that I witnessed the transition of Point Reyes from traditional ranches, to that of an urban playground.

Overnight, our bucolic landscape was changed from viable dairies to a bizarre weekend warrior's retreat. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard became a parking lot Saturdays and Sundays. Traffic jams in the middle of nowhere.

Nothing says wilderness quite like hiking alone on a ridge trail only to get run over by a mad mountain biker freewheeling at 40 MPH.

Drake's Beach looking toward Limantour Spit.

I also admit that when the historic moment to turn the point into a national park in 1962, it was exciting. I saw the Air Force One helicopter fly overhead, with Ladybird Johnson enroute, to open the new park at Drake's Beach. But we locals weren't invited to the party. In fact, the Secret Service, practically closed off all the roads. So yes, I have mixed feelings on the decision to close the last remaining oyster farm at Drake's Estero.

Drake's Beach looking toward Pt. Reyes.

I suggest that you check out the weekly, the Point Reyes Light, that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism,  as it offers an alternative perspective to the idiotic one-sided ranting of the East Bay Express looking for another Oystergate in all the wrong places.

As I write this piece, I am reminded of a Nigerian saying. I am tempted to update it to: When two bull elephant seals fight, it's the eelgrass that loses.

FURTHER READING: Point Reyes Light
Salazar chooses to close Drakes Bay Oyster Company
Salazar visit provokes old and new arguments

Feds Deny Oyster Farm Lease Renewal | KQED News Fix

Drakes Bay Oyster Company Permit to Expire
Salazar pays visit to Point Reyes

From Straus Family Creamery—Please help support a small family farm and sign this petition to preserve Drake's Bay Oyster Farm

 Drakes Bay Oyster Company - Sustainable, environmentally friendly farming. Inverness, Marin County

 More information at http://www.drakesbayoyster.com

Shellfish Mariculture in Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, California 2009 study: "The presence and biological activities of cultured oysters in Drakes Estero results in locally enhanced filtration of the water column and deposition of feces and pseudofeces onto the bottom. One study was conducted in which sediment cores were taken in eelgrass as a function of distance away from oyster culture racks in Drakes Estero and also in nearby Estero de Limantour, which lacks oyster culture. No enhancement of sediment organics and no reduction in oxygen content of sediments were detectable near the culture racks or in Drakes Estero as compared to Estero de Limantour, indicating a lack of detectable negative impacts of oyster biodeposition, probably because of relatively low oyster stocking densities and high tidal flushing, which disperses the deposits. Limited water quality sampling did not demonstrate elevated levels of nutrients." p67. Report published by the National Academies Press (NAP) created by the National Academies to publish the reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, all operating under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States.

Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar: Renew the lease for Drakes Bay Oyster Company

Feds deny oyster farm lease renewal in California

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/29/5018900/ap-newsbreak-feds-deny-oyster.html#storylink=cpy

East Bay Express 

Dianne Feinstein's War | Feature | Oakland, Berkeley & Bay Area News & Arts Coverage

Drakes Bay Oyster Company Is Still Illegal | Eco Watch | The Bay Area Environment Column

Great synopsis in the WSJ by Michael Moritz: Welcome to the Salazar Wilderness—Shame on the Interior Department for trying to drum a family-owned enterprise out of business.

There's a great list of even more coverage posted at Bay Area Open Space Council's blog. Check it out. This blog made the list.

GET INVOLVED:

Sign Save Drake's bay Oyster Farm Petition
"The Drakes Bay Oyster Farm is a small, family run business employing 30 people providing fresh oysters to the San Francisco Bay Area restaurants and individual. Oyster farming has been going on in Drakes Bay for over 80 years and the oysters produced are some of the finest you will ever taste. Reversing this decision will allow this family business to continue to prosper and provide these great oysters to enjoy."

You'll need to create a White House email account in order to sign this petition. it needs 21,553 more signatures—please sign it. Don't let Big BullyBro (The National Park Service) illegally (they lied, falsified reports) to oust the Lunnys 30 more families employed at the DBOF—thus making them homeless, BTW! DBOF supplies 40% of CA's oysters. But it's not about the oysters as much as it is about the sanctioned illegal activities of the NPS and PRNS.

LIKE Drake's Bay Oyster Farm on Facebook

CALL: Howard Dillon in Bolinas has been encouraging people to call Steve Kinsey, West Marin county supervisor, to protest the decision: (415) 499-7331  

See Dispelling the Myths about the Drakes Bay Oyster Company conflict

Note bene: In case you're wondering what's in it for me—I write in order to learn what the real story, or what the backstory is. It seems there's another backstory that was not addressed by the media. The story of local people vs the NPS. Sort of like Pilgrims vs. Native Americans. Understand that it's an opinion piece, hopefully an informed one. And hopefully this blog has painted a broader picture of the problem. I will continue to revise as facts are uncovered so check back again. And thanks for reading this blog.—MH

Ken Salazar stepping down as Interior secretary

Judge upholds eviction of Drake's Bay oyster farm Looks like Ken Salazar and the NPS-PRNS dirty politics won after all.

Lunny continues legal fight to halt shut down Point Reyes oyster farm

Bringing Oysters Back to the SF Bay

Recycled oyster shells provide boost to ecosystem

You also might want to check out my blog entry on the demise of Marin dairies: 
Marin's Pastures of Plenty

I won a pass to MacWorld Expo

Feeling fairly well chuffed here—I, who never win anything, just won an iFan pass for MacWorldExpo! I'm an odd duck on a wet day‚ I'm renown for taking apart old Macs and reassembling them because I can. Duct tape is good. They mostly (usually) work when I do patch them together—except when the power supply blows. That scares me. My poor beloved elderly PPC iMac went KABLOOM! But I have hope for Ol' Lazarus. The old iMac is sublime for photo editing. Imagine seeing your photo 20” across. Talk about detail. That’s why I work so hard to keep it alive. The newer iMacs don’t have the same kind of screen. Too glossy. A mirror of sorts. I am an avid Mac addict and always learn lots by going to the MacExpo at Moscone Center. It's like a floating techno-university. And this year, iPhonograpy is featured—a huge photo exhibit!

WHAT TODDY SAID:

WHAT TODDY SAID:

I don't think I am getting enough dreaming in

because it solves problems while you sleep, 

Dreaming gives you a better perspective. 

Something's wrong inside my head, I know

it's the not knowing what it is, or how to correct it.

I can't remember. I'm worried about walking in my sleep.
Something's wrong inside my head, I know.
I know.

11/24/12






My dear aunt Toddy who, after too much wine, was caught streaking in her sleep one night. Officially diagnosed with dementia. Sad. But such clarity, nonetheless.

RIP Jack Gilbert

Joy Harjo, Bob Hass & Linda Gregg

I met Linda Gregg backstage at the Watershed Poetry Festival in Berkeley in September—Bob Hass said, Maureen, do you know Linda Gregg?

And my jaw hit the floor.

I told her about an after-school softball game I watched at Lagunitas School—the Gregg twins were on 2nd & 3rd base, Billy Joe Bianchi hit a home run and when they ran, they were so freckled and golden, I was in awe.

Someone was up at bat. Maybe it was Liz Haas. Or one of the Farley boys. I remembered them from catechism class.  I think it was Lagunitas vs. Nicasio. It was a foul ball that rolled right down the third base line and turned out at the last minute, so everyone had to retrace their steps.

I was about 6 or 7, so baseball was a mystery to me—but Billy Joe was my neighbor (family friends). So, I watched the game and cheered  as he brought them all home.

Linda was a little blown away by the baseball story—expecting something more modern, perhaps—her role as a major poet and me as sycophant—instead it was about a childhood softball game.

As it turned out, her sister was in the audience, too. So I got to meet the Gregg twins together again. I always want to call her Alma, but that's the name of Linda's seminal poetry book—if women can have a seminal books, that is. But perhaps her sister was Linda's Alma. Louise lives in Tomales. The weather has taken its toll on her. She favors the same plaid shirts as did her father. Tough no-nonsense women, the Gregg twins. 

Linda & Louise Gregg

Linda had just come from seeing Jack Gilbert. She said that he wasn't doing well. His mind may have taken flight. But he always knew her. A bond that deep.

I'm racking the brain as to how the story is possible as they are 10 years older than me but Lagunitas was such a small place in those days and I started school early—perhaps they also started school late, to make the timeline work.

Or, they were already in high school. I remember someone saying they were 8th graders—and that seemed like such an impossible distance in time, I couldn't fathom it. Maybe Carol Manning remembers it better.

A BETTER EYE VIEW

I once found a tiny octopus 
curled up in a tiny abalone shell
I thought my eyes deceived me 
but he hitchhiked up my finger,
perhaps for a better look at me.

11/13/12

Wrinkle in Time as Graphic Novel

I adored the Newbery award-winning (1962) classic, Wrinkle in Time, an adventure through space and time, the first time around—it was a magical book.

I voraciously read all Madeline L'Engle's (1918-2007) time-travel quintet (and other books) again as an adult. The magic still held. 

However, I'm ambivalent about the idea of graphic novels—an extended comic book, but, then, I'm a fast reader. So a weighty tome doesn't slow me down. 

Certainly the Harry Potter books demonstrate that kids can and do read lengthy books—not that Madeline's books are even long. They're not. 

So, if graphic novels encourage kids (and adults) who struggle to read, then, all is good. I guess. 

But in a graphic novel, crucial text is necessarily omitted because of length. It concerns me (especially the loss of metaphor/simile), and the inevitable dumbing down, the visual spoonfeeding of mental imagery disallows the readers to form their own unique images. 

Hope Larsen's interpretations of tessering may be vividly imagined in the graphic novel rendition of Wrinkle in Time. But they're HER interpretations. Not the reader's. A little too pat. Taming the wildness.

As one dissatisfied Amazon reader put it: "I don't know why we feel the need to make comic books out of classic literature. It is an insult to the original story-telling; it is an insult to the reader and this book is no exception. It allows for no imagination, no interpretation other than that of the illustrator." — KiddieLit

The engagement of one's imagination is an important aspect of reading. That amazing movie-in-your head. I know, I know—it's a facet of the old "book vs. movie" paradigm. Movies of books generally disappoint, but then, I've an agile imagination (artist/ writer) and that enters into it. 

During the Middle Ages, books (the Bible, psalters, etc.) were graphic novellas in that most people couldn't read—but the graphics were splendid summations. 

When I traveled to tiny villages in South America, I was amazed to see semi-literate men reading graphic novels—torrid little affairs—bodice rippers for men—but at least they were reading (sort of.) 

I'm all for wild imagination versus passive reading. But I hope that kids will also read the original novels as well.

NB: this came from a post to James Patterson on Facebook.

Elderberry Whine

Sambucus cerulea, aka S. nigra ssp. caerulea; S. mexicana; S. canadensis

One year I made a killer wine from elderberries (no, not the Arsenic & Old Lace variety). We weren't after anybody's pension, my grannie's was so minuscule, we lived below the poverty belt, but elderberries do contain "just a pinch" of cyanide, or rather, a cyanide inducing glycoside. My grannie said that during the Prohibition, the ladies of the parish brewed a sacramental wine (or  was it a cordial?) out of elderberries for the priests. I suppose that's what gave me the idea to make wine out of elderberries.

One year I became obsessed with brewing—someone had given me a homesteading cookbook for my birthday, and that year I made wine from everything I could think of—blackberries, apple juice, cranberry juice, huckleberries, and elderberries. 

Not enough tannin? I added a handful of tea leaves—Irish Breakfast. Not acidic enough? Lemons did the trick. The huckleberries and elderberry wines were the most successful of my home brews because they didn't need adulteration. They fermented just fine.

In those days, I didn't like booze, I was 19, as there were far too many alcoholics in the family, so my grandmother was the official guinea-pig, sipping each variety from an old scuffed shot-glass, and giving her nod of approval. She didn't die, so I knew my fruit wines were safe to drink.

A few years later, I found some abandoned bottles of my homebrew on the back porch toilet that we'd missed. Or rather, that my Uncle John Ritter had missed. One fall, while chopping winter wood, my aunt's husband discovered my hooch stash and drank his way through it. And lived. The hangover was not recorded. I was furious.

I brought a bottle of my huckleberry-elderberry blend wine to a regional French Culture class at Sonoma State—painter Marguerite Pendergast, (née Thomas) who, as a child, spent summers in France, taught these great off-campus weekend classes—we'd learn about folklore and cuisine. It was really an excuse to eat and drink ourselves silly. It was also the 1970s. Everyone said that it was like a dry Pinot Noir. There were hangovers, yes, but nobody croaked.

Halloween Traditions in Bantry

This is the original published sort version of Halloween agus Samhian

Irish Medieval History

This post on our timeline by Maureen Hurley is so good we decided to share it with you all. Thanks Maureen.

Hallowe'en (aka All Hallows Eve—an Irish Catholic tradition supplanted older pagan Samhain traditions) was introduced to Scotland. And then it was introduced to America by the Irish, not the Scots.

As a child, my grandmother carved turnips (or swedes, or mangles—any big pithy round roots used for cow fodder) in Bantry during the 1890s. Turnips were used as lanterns, candles were placed in the window. It was also a tradition to let the hearth fire die, clean the hearth, and then the sacred tradition of relighting it—from the flame of those travelling turnips. Out with the old, in with the new. It was New Year's Eve, after all!

Wearing masks (as a disguise) and using bull roarers to scare off spirits—were all part and parcel of a long ongoing tradition of Hallowe'en. My grannie was thoroughly disgusted by the American tradition of Trick or Treat. She said in Ireland, one had to dance and sing, or recite a poem or story, and then, if one was good, they might be given a treat, or a ha-penny if they were very, very good. One was expected to trot out one's best pony show. Move over, Simon Cowell.

As to the Scottish Hallowe'en connection: much of Glasgow (and River Clyde) environs—especially the slums—was heavily settled and continuously resettled by waves of itinerant Catholic Irish workers—through the industrial revolution.

 

Hallowe'en, An Irish Tradition

Hallowe'en (aka All Hallows Eve—an Irish Catholic tradition supplanted older pagan Samhain traditions) was introduced to Scotland. And then it was introduced to America by the Irish, not the Scots.

As a child, my grandmother carved turnips (or swedes, or mangles—any big pithy round roots used for cow fodder) in Bantry during the 1890s. Turnips were used as lanterns, candles were placed in the window. It was also a tradition to let the hearth fire die, clean the hearth, and then the sacred tradition of relighting it—from the flame of those traveling turnips. Out with the old, in with the new. It was New Year's Eve, after all!

Wearing masks (as a disguise) and using bull roarers to scare off spirits—were all part and parcel of a long ongoing tradition of Hallowe'en. My grannie was thoroughly disgusted by the American tradition of Trick or Treat. She said, in Ireland, one had to dance and sing, or recite a poem or story, and then, if one was good, they might be given a treat, or a ha-penny if they were very, very good. One was expected to trot out one's best pony show. Move over, Simon Cowell.