Wilderness Worship

Environmentalists have successfully lobbied the Federal Government to shut down a legal, 40+-year-old business that employs 30 people. Excerpts from the Mercury News:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday the Drakes Bay Oyster Co.'s operating permit will expire at Point Reyes National Seashore on Friday, returning Drakes Estero to wilderness.

[Owner Kevin] Lunny said he is not sure what will happen to the company's 30 employees and the on-site housing where about half of them live.

Also uncertain is the fate of some 8 million to 10 million oysters that are currently in the water, growing in various stages of development.

The oysters would have a market value of about 50 cents each, but the last of them will not be ready to harvest for another two years, Lunny said.

The oyster company — which made about $1.5 million annually — will have to remove its personal property from the lands and waters within 90 days. Salazar has asked the National Park Service to help the employees who are affected by the decision, including assisting with relocation, employment opportunities and training. Drakes Estero has been in commercial oyster production for nearly 100 years.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune lauded the decision. "We're thrilled that after three decades this amazing piece of Point Reyes National Seashore will finally receive the protections it deserves," he said. "Once the oyster factory operations are removed, as originally promised ... this estuary will quickly regain its wilderness characteristics and become a safe haven for marine mammals, birds and other sea life."

Let's give the environmentalists their due. Drakes Estero will probably look more beautiful without the oyster business (Reuters photo below).

Economic arguments--the loss of 30 jobs, not to mention the permanent reduction in the supply of locally grown oysters valued in the millions of dollars--could not overcome the worship of the wilderness that now holds sway over much of environmentalism and now the Interior Department. From Wikipedia, a worshipful definition:

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure."

If a little wilderness is good, then it follows that more wilderness is better. That's why initiatives like draining the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir that provides water to millions of Californians gain a respectful hearing.

By the way, the measure to dismantle the Hetch Hetchy was rejected by 77% of San Francisco voters. The wilderness religionists are vocal, but they're not in the majority...yet. © 2012 Stephen Yuen