Right Move, Wrong Way

Wild horses couldn’t keep Channel Islands National Park Supt. Tim Setnicka from his mission of returning Santa Cruz Island to the natural state it knew before the first human beings arrived.

Although we share the sadness of horse lovers enthralled with the romantic sight of the creatures galloping free as the ocean breeze across the spectacular terrain, we endorse that goal and we believe the island and its native species will be better off without them.

Yet we are troubled by the way park officials barred public and press from observing last week as the 16 horses were rounded up and shipped to the mainland. It is the latest example of heavy-handed management that appears to be, at best, bad public relations and, at worst, arrogant contempt for the owners of the park--the taxpaying public.

Park rangers abruptly evacuated eight campers from the island Wednesday morning, including an activist with a video camera. Typically, areas of the park are closed only during emergencies, to protect wildlife during breeding seasons or to restore habitat.

Several conflicting explanations were offered.

Campers were told they had to leave for their own safety, although the horses were already corralled. A park spokeswoman said later that the campers were evicted as a precaution, lest they spook the horses and cause injury. Still later Supt. Setnicka said he restricted public access to avoid distracting the veterinarian and horse wranglers.

“I wanted them to perform their job,” he said. “To have it work and work best was to have no observers.”

To be sure, removing the herd was the culmination of a months-long legal struggle between the National Park Service and a Santa Barbara-based group that unsuccessfully sued to keep the horses on the island. The action came less than two weeks after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling in the lawsuit, clearing the way to remove the animals and return them to their owners, the Gherini family, who ran a sheep ranching operation on the island for many years.

Park officials were under no obligation to notify their critics or the rest of the public of their intended timetable for removing the horses. But rousting campers from their sleeping bags and blocking press and public access during the operation contrasts sharply with the proper action of a public agency.

Channel Islands National Park is a unique place that deserves to be protected from abuse and inappropriate use. But it is a public place, and its managers must accept that the public has an interest and a right to keep an eye on things.