Isolation of Farallon Islands May End

By Terence Chea

May 29, 2005 12 AM PT

Associated Press Writer

FARALLON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE — Less than 30 miles from San Francisco, an archipelago of rocky islands rises out of the Pacific Ocean, forming a largely undisturbed wildlife haven that biologists call California’s Galapagos.

The public isn’t allowed onto the granite islands that make up the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge -- the country’s largest seabird breeding colony outside Alaska and Hawaii.

But on a rare visit organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, several journalists saw an ecosystem teeming with life: densely packed colonies of black-and-white murres nesting on steep rocky slopes and Western gulls squawking constantly while defending their brown spotted eggs. A herd of elephant seals lounging in a sandy cove, just out of reach of the great white sharks circling nearby. And passing by in the chilly ocean swells, a gray whale, spouting water high into the air.

“You don’t have to go to the Galapagos to see amazing biological diversity and thousands and thousands of animals,” said Russ Bradley, a PRBO Conservation Science researcher who monitors seabird breeding on the islands. “It’s right on San Francisco’s doorstep.”

Only a handful of bird researchers and maintenance workers are permitted to set foot on the 211-acre archipelago at any given time. Such restrictions have allowed wildlife to flourish in a predator-free environment at the edge of the continental shelf, where ocean upwellings provide an abundant food source for fish, birds, whales and other marine mammals.

Once devastated by hunting and a long military presence, wildlife has rebounded on the Farallones. The four main islands and dozens of craggy outcroppings are home to five species of marine mammals and 12 species of seabirds, totaling 300,000 or 30% of California’s breeding seabirds.

The islands, which can be seen from San Francisco on clear days, aren’t exactly conducive to visitors. Because of stormy seas and steep drop-offs into the ocean, there are no docks. After a rocky 2 1/2 -hour boat ride from San Francisco, authorized visitors must approach the main island in a small raft, then get hoisted onto the island by a 30-foot crane.

Visitors are greeted by a deafening chorus of shrieking gulls -- so loud that some researchers wear earplugs. A hike to the solar-powered lighthouse on the 350-foot peak of Southeast Farallon Island offers stunning views of the archipelago.

But the best views of thick colonies of nesting murres and cormorants can be had from the sea -- and whale-watching boats carrying tourists on daylong trips regularly approach the islands from a safe distance.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has begun to seek public comment on a 15-year conservation plan that will address public access, among other issues. The agency is considering allowing small groups of naturalists to visit, but probably not tourists.

“We’re looking for creative ways to increase the public experience of the refuge without necessarily having them step foot on the islands,” said refuge manager Joelle Buffa.

This year, two senior congressmen proposed legislation that would have opened up the Farallones and two other protected, uninhabited islands in the Caribbean to once-a-year visits by nonresearchers securing special permits.

The bill, sponsored by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) and Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), raised fierce opposition from biologists who feared even limited public access would threaten the islands’ wildlife, and appeared all but dead.

“Public access would have caused disturbances that could have exposed seabird eggs and nestlings to predatory birds and potentially harmed their success at producing their young,” said Glenn Olson, executive director of California Audubon Society.

The bill was intended to allow amateur ham radio operators, who compete in broadcasting to and from remote locations, to visit under strict supervision. However, opponents said the language was “vague enough to lead to unfettered access to the general public,” said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for the House Resources Committee.

“The members thought it was an innocuous, reasonable thing to do,” Kennedy said. “It was a surprise to all that there was this much protest.”

Amateur radio operators were disappointed. “It appears to me that they could accommodate visitors on the island within certain guidelines,” said Bob Vallio, a ham radio operator in Castro Valley.

Although the Farallones are too close to shore to be as biologically unique as Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, scientists here worry that opening the refuge to tourists could disturb skittish nesting birds and the endangered Steller sea lions. In fact, nearly every nook is occupied by animals or nests holding eggs, which can be easily crushed by a visitor’s misstep.

Before President Theodore Roosevelt established the refuge in 1909, sealers wiped out 50,000 resident northern fur seals in the early 19th century. The common murre population plummeted during the Gold Rush, when “eggers” collected seabird eggs to sell in San Francisco. And during the 20th century, the military had as many as 70 people living there.

In 1969, access was strictly limited to a small group of researchers who lived in two wooden houses that once housed Coast Guard families, and biologists said the island wildlife was healthier than it had been in years.

“It’s slowly recovering from the impact of past actions and disturbances,” Buffa said. “We’re letting nature take its course.”