On January 14, the National Park Service (NPS) released its long-anticipated draft dog management plan for the Golden Gate National Recreation (GGNRA).
As expected and roundly denounced by canine recreation advocates in the Bay Area, unless modified the “preferred” GGNRA plan would either ban dogs entirely or require them to be leashed in many popular local areas. For example, off-leash dogs would be prohibited at Ocean Beach except north of Stairwell 21 at the Cliff House end. At Fort Funston, the Sunset and Horse trails and the bluffs overlooking the beach would be entirely off-limits to dogs, and leashes would be required on many other trails there, as well as in the parking lot.
Crissy Field Dog Group chair Martha Walters called the proposed plan “a radical departure” from the current policy.
The GGNRA’s stated purpose for a new dog management plan is to clarify the policy and satisfy the needs of diverse park users while protecting sensitive plant and bird species. Many local dog lovers believe that the need for local canines to get adequate exercise should also be considered a prominent goal of the process. Since implementation of the GGNRA’s preferred plan would result in less, not more, room for dogs to run in San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo Counties, they are determined to block it.
GGNRA is currently the only national park in the country that permits off-leash dogs at all, albeit in only 1% of its total area. Some pro-dog folks suspect the NPS’s eventual goal is to ban them entirely and see the current proposal as one giant step in that direction.
No doubt a great deal of conflict will accompany the 30-day public comment period required by law before the plan can go forward. For more information about the draft plan and details about upcoming public meetings, visit http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=11759.
A coalition of local dog-related nonprofits has formed to “promote the co-existence of responsible off-leash dog recreation with other forms of outdoor recreation.” Eco-Dog members currently include The San Francisco SPCA, Marin Humane Society, PAWS San Francisco, Crissy Field Dog Group, Fort Funston Dog Walkers, Marin Unleashed, and Pacifica Dog. For more on the group’s efforts, see www.eco-dog.org.
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