The sun shined brightly on our gathering to honor our founder, friend and mentor, Huey Johnson. January 6, 2025, would have been Huey’s 92nd birthday, and we took the opportunity to reflect on his remarkable life and contributions that guide our path every day.

Ranching operations to transition out of Point Reyes by 2026, clearing the way for conservation efforts.

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.

The proposed Sáttítla National Monument in northeastern California represents a vital opportunity to protect one of the state’s most ecologically, culturally, and hydrologically significant regions. Often called the “headwaters of California,” Sáttítla provides fresh water to millions across the state, supporting wildlife, agriculture, and communities from the highlands to the San Francisco Bay.

For the first time in history, tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore will roam free as the NPS removes the contentious two-mile-long fence. Learn how thousands of voices and RRI made this historic moment possible!

46 Bay Area environmental organizations have united to urge San Francisco officials to drop a lawsuit against the EPA, scheduled for Supreme Court hearing on October 16, 2024. The lawsuit challenges EPA's authority under the Clean Water Act, potentially undermining nationwide water protection efforts.

RRI joined forces with over 20 organizations and businesses in submitting a public comment to the California Fish and Game Commission, urging them to implement robust measures to reduce bycatch and mortality in the Southern California set gillnet fishery.

Point Reyes National Seashore is the only national park where tule elk exist.

In 1978, the NPS reintroduced ten of California’s last surviving tule elk to the National Seashore. Once hailed as a historic conservation victory, the recovering tule elk at Tomales Point have struggled. For decades, scientists forewarned that forage and water were insufficient for the confined herd to thrive. As predicted, hundreds of elk have suffered and died during two historic droughts over the last decade.

On May 9, 2024, the Resource Renewal Institute joined over 100 environmental organizations urging Governor Newsom’s administration to proceed with funding the projects scheduled for the May 23rd Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) meeting despite potential budget cuts.

In December, Resource Renewal Institute (RRI) lost a wonderful friend and a colleague whose work will have a lasting impact on our organization. Lynn Alexander was a multi-faceted person who often surprised us with her wide range of talents and interests. As a director of large, complex projects for RRI, she was an organizational expert and accomplished leader who brought out the best in all of us.

In April, the California Coastal Commission unanimously rejected the National Park Service’s (NPS) Water Quality Strategy and Climate Action Plan for Point Reyes National Seashore as inadequate and sent the NPS back to the drawing board. This Thursday, September 8, Commissioners will revisit the NPS’s newly submitted plan.

I’m writing to update you on Fish in the Fields (FIF) and the important progress we’ve been making in 2022. Our work to drive greater sustainability into two essential crops, rice and fish, continues to gain momentum and participation among key stakeholders in California and across the country.

The National Park Service announced that it has initiated a new planning process to address “complex wildlife, resource, and wilderness management issues” at Tomales Point at Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California. The planning area includes the 2,900-acre Tomales Point Tule Elk Reserve where rare native tule elk, once thought to be extinct, were reintroduced in 1978. Point Reyes is the only national park where tule elk exist.

On January 10th, the RRI and our co-plaintiffs—the Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project—filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Northern District Court in San Francisco challenging the National Park Service’s (NPS) controversial management plan for ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore and the northern district of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which remain among a small handful of national parks where commercial beef and dairy ranching reign.

In early December, Resource Renewal Institute (RRI) president Deborah Moskowitz and Director of Programs Chance Cutrano spent a busy and productive three days at the USA Rice Federation (USARice) 2021 Outlook Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Despite an urgent report by the United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change that humanity has a decade to avert climate disaster, the Biden Administration today approved a controversial National Park Service plan for continued commercial ranching at California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, perpetuating the beef and dairy operations at the only national seashore on the Pacific Coast.

Life is getting sticky for the beef and dairy ranchers operating within Point Reyes National Seashore. They’ve taken to blaming their problems on the activists that have effectively stalled what the ranchers clearly thought was a slam dunk for their forever-ranching in this national park.

On Sunday, September 12, park advocates will rally at Point Reyes National Seashore in anticipation of a decision by the Department of the Interior that will determine the future of the national park for decades to come.

The National Park Service has submitted a request for a 60-day extension in order to complete a highly controversial plan for commercial ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. The General Management Plan Amendment, which would issue 20-year leases to private beef and dairy operations, expand livestock, allow cultivating commercial crops and kill native elk, was to be completed by a court-ordered deadline of July 14, 2021.

The NPS’s General Management Plan Amendment for Point Reyes Seashore awaits Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s signature. The controversial plan will instate ranching for least 20 more years, add hundreds more commercial livestock, and condemns native Tule elk to death in an effort to shore up the distressed ranches. As the deadline approaches, resistance to the plan is gaining momentum. Here are recent highlights:

Resource Renewal Institute (RRI) is thrilled to announce that our President, Deborah Moskowitz, and Director of Programs, Chance Cutrano, are recipients of a prestigious environmental award from Acterra, the respected Peninsula environmental organization that “brings people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet.”