SAN FRANCISCO — November 29, 2012 — An historic Northern California oyster farm along Point Reyes National Seashore will be shut down and the site converted to a wilderness area, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Thursday.
Salazar said he will not renew the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. lease that expires Friday. The move will bring a close to a yearslong environmental battle over the site.
"After careful consideration of the applicable law and policy, I have directed the National Park Service to allow the permit for the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. to expire … and to return the Drakes Estero to the state of wilderness that Congress designated for it in 1976," Salazar said in a statement.
Salazar visited the oyster farm last week and said he did not make the decision lightly.
Read the full story by the Associated Press in the Seattle Post Intelligencer