Settlement Reached in Long-Standing Dispute Over Ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore
Image credit: Sarah Killingsworth.
An agreement signed this week by the National Park Service (NPS), environmental groups, and 18 families who have long run cattle and dairy operations at Point Reyes National Seashore ends a decade-long dispute over ranching within the national park.
Located on the Pacific Coast of Marin County, about an hour’s drive from San Francisco, Point Reyes National Seashore is part of a United Nations-designated International Biosphere Reserve for its diverse plants and wildlife. More than 100 plant and animal species at the Seashore are listed as rare, threatened, or endangered. Point Reyes National Seashore is one of only a few national parks that allow commercial cattle ranching, a practice that pre-dated the Seashore’s establishment in 1962.
In 2016, a lawsuit initiated by the Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watershed Project challenged the National Park Service’s decision to issue 20-year leases to commercial beef and dairy ranches at the Seashore without any environmental analysis or public input, required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Settlement of RRI’s 2016 lawsuit led the NPS to update it’s 40-year-old management plan in 2021, which proposed expanded ranching, livestock diversification, and mobile slaughterhouses in the national park. RRI and it’s co-plaintiffs sued again, preventing implementation of the new plan, which conflicted with the park’s enabling legislation and the NPS’s 1916 founding mandate, “to conserve the scenery, wildlife, and natural and historic objects in national parks, monuments, and reservations…for the enjoyment in a way that leaves them unimpaired for future generations.”
Two groups of beef and dairy ranchers, including the Point Reyes Ranchers’ Association, comprised of longtime leaseholders in the national seashore and the adjacent Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), intervened in the lawsuit in 2022. All parties to the lawsuit agreed to mediation that same year. The Nature Conservancy joined the mediation in 2023 to help resolve the longstanding conflict. Negotiations continued until this week when a voluntary agreement was reached to wind down ranching and remove nearly 5,000 cattle grazing in the Seashore.
"Over the past two years, environmentalists, ranchers, and park managers worked shoulder to shoulder to forge an agreement that honors both our human connections and our conservation commitments to this remarkable landscape. This historic settlement creates a framework to protect the Seashore's irreplaceable natural resources for generations to come," said Chance Cutrano, Director of Programs at the Resource Renewal Institute.
As Part Of The Settlement
Eleven lessees who currently operate 12 organic dairies or cattle ranches within the Point Reyes National Seashore will receive compensation payments from The Nature Conservancy as part of their voluntary agreement to end their operations and transition off the Seashore.
Nine ranches will continue at PRNS and Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Seven historic ranches in the north district of GGNRA will receive new 20-year leases to support viable agricultural operations with continued protection of park natural and cultural resources, and the NPS will negotiate long-term leases for two ranching operations within the Point Reyes National Seashore.
The departing lessees will have approximately 15 months from the signing of the agreement to complete the wind-down of their operations on the Seashore and move off the land.
Help us Keep the Settlement Settled
The Nature Conservancy will collaborate with the NPS through an agreement to mutually support and share resources to promote conservation activities on the vacated lease areas. Both entities are interested in using the best available science and traditional ecological knowledge through consultation with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and various management tools to pursue natural and cultural resource objectives.
A tenant and employee transition support plan is well into development, and financial resources have been secured to proactively support finding employment and housing alternatives for the employees and tenants of the departing ranchers residing at Point Reyes.
Last month, in an action unrelated to this settlement, the NPS announced its plan to remove the two-mile-long “elk fence,” freeing the animals to roam throughout the Seashore for the first time in the park’s history. Once believed extinct, California Tule elk were reintroduced to the Seashore in a recovery effort in 1978. Confined to an “elk preserve” at the tip of the Point Reyes peninsula to prevent the elk from foraging on parkland leased for cattle grazing. Hundreds of elk perished in recent droughts. With the removal of the elk fence and the transition of nearly 17,000 acres out of commercial beef and dairy ranching, the Tule elk will be managed as one herd.
“Two and a half million people visit this national park every year. By addressing the very real needs of the public and the community, this agreement balances compassion with conservation,” said Deborah Moskowitz, President of the Resource Renewal Institute. “It marks a crucial milestone in preserving and restoring the only national seashore on the Pacific Coast.”
Point Reyes National Seashore Zoning Maps
Map #1 Current Ranching
Map #2 Settlement Negotiation
Map #1 Twelve dairy or cattle ranches currently operate on 28,000 acres of the Seashore and adjacent GGNRA.
Map #2 Under a voluntary settlement agreement, 12 ranches of the 14 ranches, comprising approximately 17,000 park acres on the Point Reyes peninsula, will cease operations in 2026. Approximately 5,000 cattle will be moved out of the Seashore and miles of fencing will be removed to expand wildlife habitat. Existing ranching will continue at the adjacent GGNRA.
Get the Backstory
Image credit: Sarah Killingsworth.
Join our Zoom call
We are hosting a Zoom call on Monday, January 13th at 6:00 P.M. to answer questions about the outcomes of the settlement.
To participate in the call please register here.
For More Information
Chance Cutrano, Director of Programs, Resource Renewal Institute
312 403-3702, ccutrano@rri.org
Deborah Moskowitz, President. Resource Renewal Institute,
415 613-9675, dmoskowitz@rri.org
Read more about the settlement in the San Francisco Chronicle
