Editor:
The purchase of dunes in the 1990s obligates Manila to safeguard its coastal wetlands (“Bad Weed,” April 21). Funny nobody talks about wetlands, even though Manila received $250,000 of state Wetland Habitat funds just to pull grass in recent years. The net effect on Manila’s wetlands was detrimental, not enhancing.
As Fish and Wildlife said in NCJ‘s April 21 article, Manila had a large, mature forest just last century. When the hydrologic function of a coastal wetland is working properly, the young trees have enough water in the dunes to thrive. So let’s use our current state Wetlands Habitat grant to enhance our aquifer rather than threaten it further.
It’s simple: We can either have a garden or a desert; it’s up to us. I favor the Friends of the Dunes proposal to replant the foredunes to protect the wetlands of Manila and promote reforestation around our wetlands.
It surprises me no HSU students are bringing to light the disastrous effects of vegetation removal on the coast. To use enviro-dollars to advance this destruction, in violation of the Coastal Act, the county Long-Term Management Plan, the Local Coastal Plan, and even the Ramsar, Kyoto and Copenhagen accords, is to work against our own best interests. We must remember that since 1972, coastal wetlands were to be the most protected land types in California, pursuant to the Coastal Act that defines an ESHA (Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area).
What we’ve seen being practiced under the direction of the Dunes Co-op (a joint effort of university, local, state and federal agencies) is not science at all, but an experiment of eradication at the cost of wildlife, forest, aquifer and wetlands. Speak up for our coastal wetlands now, or lose them forever.
Dan Edrich, Manila
Editor:
Can we quit it with the personal vendettas, please? (“Grass Poll,” Mailbox, May 5.) I went on a Mother’s Day wildflowers hike Saturday in the Lanphere Dunes that was offered by two volunteer docents. They took two moms, each with a young boy, and myself and patiently taught us about the plants and birds as we meandered through the refuge, which took over three hours. They showed us how to stay on the trail, observe wildlife tracks and ant mounds, and so much more.
As had been advertised, now I will receive a permit to revisit Lanphere with my son, my girlfriend, and other friends at my whim. I look forward to returning to that amazing, old, wise forest. It was much more grand than I had expected.
Now that I’ve had my one guided tour, I can take the responsibility of keeping to the trails and being a respectful visitor to Lanphere, just as Andrea Pickart, USFWS, had gleefully said at the Manila Dunes forum in April. It was worth it, and I suggest others should sign up for a guided tour, too; it is so wonderful there, and I can’t wait to return soon.
Gene Biggins, Indianola
This article appears in Queasy Eats.
My wife and I also enjoyed a fantastic tour of the Lanphere Dunes (it happened to be Jan 9 2010, and we were just above the surf when the earth quaked not 5 minutes after our guide explained how the dunes we stood on had been formed by an earthquake 300 years ago and that they repeat on a roughly 300 hundred year cycle, so we should expect one anytime!!!) Other than the mad dash for the highest dune, the tour was excellent. The requirement of an orientation to the Dunes enhanced the sense that we were entering a special place. It certainly didn’t bother us that we needed this introduction to the needs of the dunes before being turned loose upon them.
I can’t think of any reason why we shouldnt take these simple steps to help what has been so severely damaged by the well-known thoughtless or misguided or downright crummy intentions that have prevailed since colonialization.
When folks go on a warpath because they are asked to take part in a community process that is intended to protect what has been wounded, it makes you wonder exactly what their motivation might be since concern for the well-being of their own habitat doesnt appear to be that primary.