ACTION ALERT: Email Your Opposition to Dog Walking Restrictions in the GGNRA by November 27th

The more emails the GGNRA receives, the more clear it will be in a future lawsuit that their changes to dog walking access are highly controversial.

Dear Subscriber First Name,

This Wednesday, Nov. 27, is the deadline to submit comments to the GGNRA to object to changes to dog walking access in the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium for the GGNRA. All you need to do is to copy and paste the sample letter below—or write your own—and email it to goga_public_affairs@nps.gov.

If implemented, the Superintendent’s Compendium will impact recreational dog walking in these ways:

• Close sections of Fort Funston to dog walking.

• Close trails to dog walking at three sites in San Mateo County.

• Empower Park Rangers to stop anyone walking with a dog and demand to see proof that the dog has “immediate” recall. If recall is not “immediate enough,” the dog could be impounded.

• Change the definition of an “unmanaged” dog so broadly that nearly any and every dog behavior can be interpreted as being out of control.

• Close sections of off-leash beach access in Marin for many months of the year.

Please take less than 5 minutes today to take action!

Submit a comment objecting to the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium for the GGNRA by Wednesday, Nov. 27 to goga_public_affairs@nps.gov and cc the GGNRA Superintendent Laura Joss (Laura_Joss@nps.gov), NPS Pacific West Region Director Stan Austin (stan_austin@nps.gov), and your local, state, and federal representatives.

Superintendent’s Compendiums are meant for minor and non-controversial changes. But the compendium’s proposed changes to dog management are significant and highly controversial. Changes like this require a formal rule making process that includes public notice and public comment.

The more emails the GGNRA receives, the more clear it will be in any future lawsuit that these changes truly are controversial.

Sample comment:

I’m writing to object to the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium for the GGNRA. A compendium is meant for the introduction of minor noncontroversial changes to national parks and national recreation areas. But the 2019 Superintendent’s Compendium includes significant changes to dog walking in the GGNRA, which has been the subject of a 20-year battle that pit San Francisco Bay Area residents and their local lawmakers against the National Park Service. The proposed changes to dog walking access and terminology related to dog walking are highly controversial and unlawful and should be removed from the compendium.

The changes that must be removed from the compendium include:

• Any and all restrictions to dog walking in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin Counties that are not necessitated by immediate safety concerns.

• Any and all changes to the definitions and terms that describe dog walking. Unacceptable changes proposed in the 2019 compendium include new definitions of the terms “managed dogs,” “unmanaged dogs,” and “voice control.”

• Any new restrictions to dog walking at Fort Funston, especially the idea that "signed sensitive restoration areas" automatically forbid dog walking access.

• The edict that commercial dog walking will not be allowed in San Mateo County. To the contrary, the GGNRA should extend the commercial dog walking permit process to San Mateo.

The people of the San Francisco Bay Area are adamant that dog walking in the GGNRA be guided by the 1979 Pet Policy, and San Mateo County’s historic dog walking access. And we will not allow the National Park Service to misuse the compendium process to implement parts of the highly controversial Dog Management Plan that we forced the Park Service to withdraw in 2017.

For more information, see our website SFDOG website.

Thank you for taking action and for all you’ve done over the years to protect recreational dog walking in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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