Point Reyes National Seashore

An elephant seal that for two years struggled with a packing strap entangled around its neck recently was freed from the strangulating band at Point Reyes National Seashore, and biologists expect the animal to fully recover.

When Mount Rainier National Park law enforcement Ranger Margaret Anderson was shot and killed on New Year's Day, she became the ninth ranger in the history of the National Park Service to be murdered in the line of duty, according to Park Service records.

Showing little faith in the National Park Service's ability to conduct sound science at Point Reyes National Seashore, Congress has inserted language into an appropriations bill that calls for the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate the agency's science into the impacts of an oyster farm operating within the seashore.

It could, perhaps, be viewed as the wildlife equivalent of "Beach Party," the 1960s-era series of beach-based movies featuring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Only in this case, the beach at Point Reyes National Seashore is covered by elephant seals, not hormone-crazed twenty-somethings.

Why are national parks so dang controversial?

While an oyster company operating at Point Reyes National Seashore seems to be influencing the behavior of harbor seals there, more research is needed to determine a "cause and effect," a new report concludes.

Questionable actions the staff of Point Reyes National Seashore has taken towards the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. have drawn the attention of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is launching an investigation into the fate of the oyster company.

How great would it be to spend some of your free time this winter helping educate visitors to Point Reyes National Seashore on elephant seals and gray whales? If you live near the California seashore, you could have such a job, albeit on a volunteer basis.

Budget shortfalls are expected to result in the closure of up to 70 of the 278 California state parks, but thanks to help from the National Park Service, three of those sites will get at least a one-year reprieve. Projects in a fourth state site will also receive some additional NPS support.

Since 2005, Kenny Lunny has worked hard to clean up not only after his oyster farm at Point Reyes National Seashore, but also after his predecessor's operation. So when he received word from the California Coastal Commission that it was concerned about "marine debris" from his company, he was surprised.

Barely a week after Point Reyes National Seashore officials released a draft environmental analysis assessing whether an oyster company is harming the seashore's waters, allegations have been made that the company has been dumping debris in the waters.

A draft environmental impact statement examining an oyster farm at Point Reyes National Seashore contains four possible alternatives, three of which would allow the operation to continue for at least 10 years if the Interior secretary agrees.

Via a series of letters, studies, and excoriations, politicians past and present are urging Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to permit the continued operation of an oyster farm in an area of Point Reyes National Seashore to be designated as official wilderness.

With summer officially getting under way tomorrow, more and more folks will be heading out to the national parks for some summer fun. Just be sure to be careful out there so you don't find yourself added to a search-and-rescue report as these folks were.

Seen any heroes down at the beach lately? The folks at Oceana, a non-profit that works to protects oceans, are looking for some heros.

Stories about someone walking on a beach and finding a message in a bottle can capture our imagination, but a volunteer at Point Reyes National Seashore has used his imagination to turn the bottles themselves into the message--and he did it in a big way.

National Park Service employees analyzing the impacts of an oyster farm on Point Reyes National Seashore "mishandled research," but did not engage in a criminal behavior or scientific misconduct, according to an Interior Department review of the matter.

We love our national parks. We love the wildlife they hold, the seashores with their sparkling sands, the forests with their wildlife and hiking trails, the soaring red-rock cliffs and plunging canyons. But please, don't ask us to abide by their regulations.

Spurred by a U.S. senator determined to reverse congressional action from four decades ago, Point Reyes National Seashore officials are compiling a voluminous environmental impact statement on whether an oyster farm or official wilderness should occupy Drakes Estero.

A review of how Congress acted on wilderness legislation shows that the National Park System benefited quite nicely during the 111th session, but it could have fared better.

Catching a glimpse of migrating Pacific gray whales and watching Northern Elephant seals come ashore to breed at Point Reyes National Seashore will be made a bit easier for visitors beginning in January when the seashore's shuttle bus service resumes.

Seasonal migrations offer special opportunities to see wildlife herding and flocking, leaving, passing through, and arriving in our national parks.

A big decision at Point Reyes National Seashore could strike at the core values of our national parks. To protect the West Coast’s only marine wilderness or to commercialize it – that is the choice that Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar must make as he considers the fate of Drakes Estero, an estuary within Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California.

The only national seashore on the West Coast is wondrous to behold, but tough to describe. Here are a few statistics that help take the measure of the place.

If you mistake the death cap for an edible mushroom, you’ll need emergency hospitalization. If you don’t get prompt medical treatment, it will likely cost you your liver or your life.

If you mention the terms "weed" and "California" in the same sentence, some people will make an assumption about the subject at hand. NPS areas in the San Francisco area are looking for some volunteer "weed watchers," and the purpose of this project may be different than you expect.

Expect some access restrictions at Point Reyes National Seashore beginning Monday. That's because the harbor seal pupping season is upon us, and the national seashore boasts the "largest mainland, breeding colony of harbor seals in California."

Don Neubacher, a 28-year veteran of the National Park Service who has spent the past 15 as superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore, is moving over to take the helm at Yosemite National Park.

Which is your favorite national seashore, and why? Seems like a pretty straightforward question, no?