Island Management Plan Is a Joke

We are disappointed that the federal government has done it again. The federal government has demonstrated that it is unable to keep its word. Ordinary citizens who believe an agreement means something don’t have a chance when they are up against the bureaucracy.

The Channel Islands National Park was created and Santa Rosa Island was acquired with a clear understanding that Vail & Vickers would be able to continue its historic cattle operation for 25 years. Obviously the proposed management plan is a thinly veiled attempt to renege on the federal government’s agreement.

The proposed management plan grossly overstates the impact on the environment. The cattle operation has been on the island for more than 95 years and has been managed successfully by Vail & Vickers. The cattle and wildlife management operations cannot be causing this wholesale damage or else the federal government would not have been interested in turning it into a national park in the late 1980s.

The proposed management plan not only violates the agreement reached at the time of acquisition, but the plan they have asked us to implement is impossible. They demand drastic changes that include the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of elk and Kaibab mule deer.

We are taking steps to persuade the federal government to honor its agreement.

AL VAIL

Managing partner, Vail & Vickers

Santa Barbara