Famed Berkeley chef Alice Waters and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau filed a federal court brief Thursday supporting Drakes Bay Oyster Company's battle to stay in business in Point Reyes National Seashore.
Their 29-page "friend of the court" brief opposed the National Park Service's order to shut the oyster farm on Drakes Estero, asserting the move is "inconsistent with the best thinking of the modern environmental movement."
The park service and "other traditional conservationists" seeking the closure are "stuck in an archaic and discredited preservationist paradigm," the brief said.
Drakes Bay Oyster Company
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, center, talks with Drake's Bay Oyster Company employee Rosa Meva about the oyster farming process during a tour at the Point Reyes National Seashore near Point Reyes Station, California on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
Drake's Bay Oyster Company part-owner Nancy Lunny listens as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar answers questions by concerned members of the oyster farming community following a tour at the Point Reyes National Seashore near Point Reyes Station, California on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar answers questions by concerned members of the oyster farming community following a tour of Drake's Bay Oyster Company at the Point Reyes National Seashore near Point Reyes Station, California on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, center, talks with Drake's Bay Oyster Company part-owner Kevin Lunny, left, during a tour at the Point Reyes National Seashore near Point Reyes Station, California on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, left, shakes hands with Drake's Bay Oyster Company part-owner Kevin Lunny after a tour at the Point Reyes National Seashore near Point Reyes Station, California on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
Leticia Martinez shucks Pacific oysters in a trailer that houses the canning operations at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company facility, near Inverness, on Thursday, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung / PD)
Valerio Salgado sorts freshly harvested Pacific Oysters at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company facility, near Inverness, on Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
Rogelio Camacho carries bags of Pacific oysters from a barge to be sorted at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company facility, near Inverness, on Thursday, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
Drakes Bay Oyster Company employees Lorenzo Hernandez, left, Francisco Lopez, Francisco Manzo and Rogelio Camacho remove Pacific oysters from a rack in Drakes Estero and load them onto a barge on Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
Drakes Bay Oyster Company employee Francisco Manzo pulls two bags of Pacific oysters to load onto a barge in Drakes Estero on Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
Drakes Bay Oyster Company employees Francisco Lopez, left, Rogelio Camacho and Francisco Manzo pull up bags of Pacific oysters from the bottom of Drakes Estero during low tide early Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
Rogelio Camacho, left, and Francisco Manzo pull up bags of Pacific oysters from the Drakes Bay Oyster Company's oyster farm in Drakes Estero, and load them onto a barge early Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung / PD)
Rosa Meza spreads Pacific oyster larvae into a heated and aerated planting tank at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company facility near Inverness on Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
Approximately seven million Pacific oyster larvae are ready to be placed into a heated and aerated planting tank at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company facility near Inverness on Thursday morning, June 14, 2012. (Christopher Chung/PD)
File - In this Dec. 6, 2011 file photo, owner Kevin Lunny looks out at his Drake's Bay Oyster Co. in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down the historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore, designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
In this photo taken Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gestures while speaking with workers during a tour of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down the historic oyster farm designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar also said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
In this photo taken Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012, workers on a scow bring in a load of freshly harvested oysters at Drakes Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down an historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore, designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
FILE - In this Dec. 6, 2011 file photo, owner Kevin Lunny holds a Pacific oyster at the Drake's Bay Oyster Co. in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down an historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore, designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
In this photo taken Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012, is the exterior of an oyster shack is shown at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down an historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore, designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
In this photo taken Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012, workers sort freshly harvested oysters at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down an historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore, designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
In this photo taken Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, left, talks with Drakes Bay Oyster Company owner Kevin Lunny, right, during a tour of the oyster farm in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. Salazar on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, said he will shut down an historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore, designating the site as a wilderness area. Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a years-long environmental battle over the site. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Eight other parties, including Hayes Street Grill in San Francisco, Marin County Agriculture Commissioner Stacy Carlsen, the California Farm Bureau Federation and Marin County Farm Bureau, joined in the brief.
The shutdown order came last fall in the wake of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision not to renew a permit for the oyster company, which harvests 8 million oysters a year from the estero's federally protected waters.
Farm operator Kevin Lunny, with free legal services from a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, is fighting the order, alleging that Salazar's decision was "arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion."
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear the oyster farm's case the week of May 13.
Waters, a pioneer of the organic food movement, developed a community of local ranchers, "such as the Lunnys, whose dedication to sustainable aquaculture and agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of fresh and pure ingredients," the brief said.
Lex McCorvey, Sonoma County Farm Bureau executive director, could not be reached for immediate comment Thursday.
Posted on the bureau's website is an undated letter from its president, grape grower Tito Sasaki, urging President Barack Obama to rescind Salazar's decision.
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"This nation, blessed with the natural, economic and human resources, must lead the world by showing how to integrate environmental, agricultural, social and economic objectives – just as Drakes Bay Oyster Company has been doing, albeit on a very modest scale," the letter said.
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.
Famed Berkeley chef Alice Waters and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau filed a federal court brief Thursday supporting Drakes Bay Oyster Company's battle to stay in business in Point Reyes National Seashore.
Their 29-page "friend of the court" brief opposed the National Park Service's order to shut the oyster farm on Drakes Estero, asserting the move is "inconsistent with the best thinking of the modern environmental movement."
The park service and "other traditional conservationists" seeking the closure are "stuck in an archaic and discredited preservationist paradigm," the brief said.
Eight other parties, including Hayes Street Grill in San Francisco, Marin County Agriculture Commissioner Stacy Carlsen, the California Farm Bureau Federation and Marin County Farm Bureau, joined in the brief.
The shutdown order came last fall in the wake of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision not to renew a permit for the oyster company, which harvests 8 million oysters a year from the estero's federally protected waters.
Farm operator Kevin Lunny, with free legal services from a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, is fighting the order, alleging that Salazar's decision was "arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion."
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear the oyster farm's case the week of May 13.
Waters, a pioneer of the organic food movement, developed a community of local ranchers, "such as the Lunnys, whose dedication to sustainable aquaculture and agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of fresh and pure ingredients," the brief said.
Lex McCorvey, Sonoma County Farm Bureau executive director, could not be reached for immediate comment Thursday.
Posted on the bureau's website is an undated letter from its president, grape grower Tito Sasaki, urging President Barack Obama to rescind Salazar's decision.
"This nation, blessed with the natural, economic and human resources, must lead the world by showing how to integrate environmental, agricultural, social and economic objectives – just as Drakes Bay Oyster Company has been doing, albeit on a very modest scale," the letter said.
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.
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