Public Trust Group Action Alert

[Myrna Hayes <myrnahay@pacbell.net>]

The Public Trust Group is dedicated to promoting an ecologically and
socially healthy San Francisco Bay Region through the application of the
Public Trust
Doctrine. P O Box 11520 Oakland, CA 94611-0520

May 8, 1998
Action Alert!

The Public Trust Doctrine saved San Francisco Bay from filling and Mono
Lake from a slow, but sure death. Now, it could save thousands of acres
of San Francisco Bay's shoreline. Letters and calls are urgently needed!
Your letter, postcard, fax, email, or phone call could make all the
difference for the future of San Francisco Bay wetlands and wildlife
resources and public access to our shorelines.

The public trust threatened on Mare Island

After occupying Mare Island as a Naval Shipyard since 1853, the Navy
closed the facility in March of 1996. At Mare Island and a number of
other Bay Area bases, public trust tidelands and navigable waterways
adjacent to the original dry land, were granted to the military by the
State of California. Over the decades, these former wetland and tideland
areas were filled and converted for military purposes. Now that the Navy
is abandoning these lands, they are slated to return to the State. The
State Lands Commission staff have met with tremendous resistance from
the Navy in their effort to settle disagreements about which areas
revert to the state and define the boundaries of these lands prior to
Navy transfer of the base to the City of Vallejo.

Even though these lands are generally leased back to local community at
no cost, to sublease, this prospect is not welcomed by developers, some
business interests and local governments, who view the Public Trust as
an obstacle to economic reuse and recovery. One of the objections these
interests have is that the lands cannot be bought and sold, although
long term leases(up to 49 years) are possible. Another issue often
raised is that uses are restricted to water-related and public uses,
which bar housing, and other private, non-public uses. All income from
lease fees generated from these lands may be used by the local community
to improve these lands. The state derives no income from the lands,
rather maintains a management oversight responsibility to ensure public
trust uses. The State Lands Commission is charged with management of
public trust uses balancing its duty to preserve, protect, enhance and
restore California's sovereign and public trust lands.

What's at stake?

The issue is whether the U.S. Government and the Navy have the right to
refuse to return public trust lands at Mare Island to the people of
California for our use. If you believe that it is wrong for the U.S.
Navy to withhold these lands and that it is important to maintain at
least a narrow shoreband(150 - 600 ft) along the water's edge for public
use in perpetuity for the use of all people as is guaranteed in the
State and U.S. Constitutions: Write today to educate the decision-makers
listed about the importance of the Public Trust to you.

William Cassidy,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Conversion & Redevelopment)
1000 Navy-Pentagon, Rm. 4E765
Washington, D.C. 20350-1000
phone (703)-693-4527
fax (703)-693-2734

Lt. Governor Gray Davis, Chair, State Lands Commission
State Capitol, Rm 1114
Sacramento, CA 95814-4992
phone: (916)-445-8994
fax: (916)-323-4998
email: Gray.Davis@ltg.ca.gov

Mayor Gloria Exline and Members of the Vallejo City Council
City of Vallejo
555 Santa Clara Street
Vallejo, CA 94590
phone: (707)-648-4575
email:vallejo@community.net

Congressman George Miller, Congressional District 7
2205 Rayburn Building
Washington, D. C. 20515
phone (202)225-2095
fax:(202)-225-5609
email:gmiller@hr.house.gov

Local Bay Area address:
1333 Willow Pass Rd., Ste. 203
Concord, CA 94520
local phone: (510)-602-1880
local fax: (510)-674-0983

Robert Hight, Executive Officer
California State Lands Commission
100 Howe Ave. Suite 100-South
Sacramento, CA 95825-8202
phone (916)-574-1800
fax (916) 574-1810

What are Public Trust Lands?

In the United States, both State and Federal laws assure special
protections to our shorelands, bottomlands, tidelands, tidewaters,
navigable fresh waters and the plant and the animal life living in these
waters. Generally these lands, waters and wildlife, while publicly
owned, are held in trust by the State for the benefit of the people.
These resources must be used for a variety of recognized public uses.
Public trust lands and resources are our heritage and if defended, our
legacy.

Sovereign lands acquired by the State of California in l850 consisted of
all beds of all tidal and navigable waterways within the state's
boundaries. Included are tidelands and submerged lands of the Pacific
Ocean, coastal bays, estuaries and lagoons, and the beds of other of the
State's tidal waterways and some non-tidal waters. California's public
trust lands are to be used for public purposes such as navigation,
ports, fisheries, boating and other water-oriented recreational
activities, open space, and habitat preservation.

The public trust doctrine provides protection for some of the public's
most precious resources. The state has an obligation to protect its
trust resources whenever feasible, even in the face of competing public
needs. In managing the state's trust resources, the State Lands
Commission, carefully assesses public trust needs and aggressively
searches for constructive approaches to fulfilling these needs without
harming other important public interests. If the public's few remaining
trust resources are to be protected, it is essential that the public
trust remain vibrant.

For additional information contact Eve Bach, President, The Public Trust
Group, 415-495-1786 or Myrna Hayes, Mare Island RAB Community Co-Chair,
707-557-9816.