GGNRA Management Plan in Deliberations

By Ryder W. Miller

For people who have been wanting to say something to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) as it prepares a long-range development plan, it is not too late. The GGNRA will be developing a General Management Plan, which will determine the future of the national park, until the fall of 2009.

"It is never too late to comment," said Brian Aviles, a senior planner for the GGNRA, which is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS).

The scoping or initial public comment period has already occurred, but NPS ears are still open as the agency moves forward.

"It is an exciting opportunity, only done once in a generation," said Aviles, about developing the General Management Plan for the GGNRA. "Hopefully, it will have grown out of what we have heard from the public."

In its General Management Plan Newsletter #2, the NPS outlines the next step of the process: "Several possible visions for the future of the parks (called alternatives) will be developed and analyzed before a preferred direction is selected."

The GGNRA was founded in 1972, in tandem with the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City, as a means for the National Park Service to bring the wilderness experience to urban centers. City residents have had to contend with a different set of rules for national parks compared to urban city parks, which are usually less restrictive.

The purpose of the GGNRA "is to offer national park experiences to a large and diverse urban population while preserving and interpreting the park's outstanding natural, historic, scenic and recreational values."

The GGNRA is comprised of large land areas in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. The Muir Woods National Monument is also involved in the creation of the plan. The development of the General Management Plan has been in progress since the spring of 2006 and will not be finalized until 2010. Over the next four months, the NPS will define the issues that the General Management Plan will address.

To be developed are "conceptual alternatives," or different scenarios of how the park could be managed over the next 20 years. The park service's staff will be sharing the alternatives with the public at the end of 2007 via a newsletter and open houses. The refined alternatives will be released for public review in 2008, and the Draft General Management Plan will incorporate these alternatives.

"It is a very open and deliberate process. We don't make hasty decisions," said Aviles. "We have a couple of years of serious work ahead of us."

The NPS will have to resolve some thorny issues, including protection of endangered species at Ocean Beach (Western Snowy Plover and Bank Swallow) and the desire of dog walkers to let their dogs run free.

As well, on trails there is a conflict between bikers and walkers, who worry about getting hit from the sometimes fast-moving bicycles, and road congestion has become a problem. The NPS says the conflicts sometimes occur because mountain bikes, dogs, horses and people all share the trails.

The initial public input periods revealed that park users valued having parks located close to them because the undeveloped open spaces near a metropolitan center offered a place to unwind. They valued the natural beauty, scenery, scenic character, unique flora and fauna, native plants, cultural and historical resources, and resource stewardship.

Park visitors appreciated the open spaces and clean air, places for quiet and solitude, and abundant opportunities for recreation and physical fitness. Also of concern were levels of development, commercialization, and public access.

"These are your park lands. This is your opportunity to help create the vision for their future," wrote GGNRA Superintendent Brian O'Neill.

The public can go to the Web site at www.nps.gov/goga to receive GGNRA e-mails. For more information, contact the park service at (415) 561-4965.