Tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore are being given supplemental water this fall/NPS file

Drought conditions have prompted the delivery of supplemental water for Tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore in California.

This is the second year in a row that the seashore staff has had to provide water for the Tomales Point Tule Elk Reserve. In June 2021, the National Park Service provided supplemental water for the tule elk at Tomales Point for the first time due to unprecedented and extreme drought conditions. Although rains occurring in October-December 2021 replenished Marin County reservoirs, the county continues to be in severe drought, with January-August 2022 proving to be the driest year on record in 128 years as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s drought information website.

Based on field monitoring of conditions at Tomales Point, the Park Service determined the need to provide supplemental water again this fall as a precaution.   

In 2021, the Park Service placed seven supplemental water tanks and troughs throughout Tomales Point. At the same time, mineral licks were placed near each system to address copper and selenium deficiencies present in the Point Reyes peninsula. The Park Service maintained the supplemental water systems and mineral licks until late in October 2021, when fall and winter rains returned and recharged water sources at Tomales Point. These water systems remained in place in the event of continued drought and the need to provide supplemental water in 2022. As of the first week of September, all supplemental water systems have been re-activated and will be maintained by seashore staff until sufficient rains return this fall and winter, similar to last year.  

The Park Service initiated a public planning process for the Tomales Point Area Plan in March 2022. The development of a plan is needed at this time based on the severity and frequency of two historic droughts in Marin County and Point Reyes National Seashore since 2013. Current management plans for Tomales Point did not anticipate such severe drought conditions or consider climate change, resulting in the need for the emergency actions taken to provide supplemental water and minerals for the tule elk in 2021 and 2022. To learn more about the Tomales Point Area Plan, sign up for email updates here.

Seashore staff ask that you support tule elk use of these troughs and mineral licks by not approaching these areas when visiting or hiking at Tomales Point. Tomales Point is part of the congressionally-designated Phillip Burton Wilderness Area. Attempts by the public to intervene by adding water to the former cattle stock ponds may disturb and create dangerous conditions for tule elk and conflict with the wilderness experience of other visitors. 

Within the national seashore, the Park Service manages a fenced herd of tule elk at Tomales Point and two free-ranging herds in the Limantour and Drakes Beach areas. There are nearly 600 tule elk at in the seashore and approximately 6,000 throughout California managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.