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Point Reyes Ranching Will All But End Under New Deal, Capping Decadeslong Conflict

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Cows in a meadow in Point Reyes National Seashore located in Marin County, California, on Nov. 17, 2017.  (Gili Yaari/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

After a decadeslong fight, the majority of ranching along the Point Reyes National Seashore will end in the next year and a half.

The settlement, announced Wednesday by the National Park Service, is the culmination of a decadeslong fight between multigenerational ranching families on the seashore and environmental advocates who argued that their operations harm native grass and animal species. It will phase out a dozen ranches that have lined the North Bay shoreline since before the California Gold Rush.

The deal comes after three environmental groups sued the park service in 2022, faulting it for part of the ecological damage done by ranchers.

“Thanks to agreements between The Nature Conservancy and the closing ranch operations, the park’s future management will include additional opportunities for visitors, non-lethal management of native tule elk, and honors the co-stewardship agreement with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria,” Point Reyes National Seashore Superintendent Anne Altman said.

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Kevin Lunny, a third-generation rancher on the peninsula, said relations between the park service and the ranchers, who lease their land, had deteriorated over the past two decades.

“Even though I knew it was coming, it’s super hard,” he said. “Even though deep down we believe it’s the right thing, and we did it voluntarily … we felt so much in a corner that we didn’t know what else to do.”

Three groups — Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project — sued the park service in 2016 and 2022 over its decision to continue issuing leasing land to commercial beef and dairy ranches on the seashore.

According to the nonprofit In Defense of Animals, the ranches dump millions of pounds of manure, millions of gallons of urine and tens of thousands of pounds of methane into the area, causing ecological damage. Tule elk have also been starved of resources and contracted diseases, the group said.

Four male elk walk down a grassy hillside
Once abundant along the Point Reyes National Seashore, tule elk will be able to roam freely when the majority of ranching ends in the next year and a half. (Amanda Font/KQED)

Erik Molvar, the executive director of Western Watersheds Project, called the settlement a “major victory” for the tule elk.

“The elk will now have the ability to move freely throughout the national seashore … and expand their populations to a natural population level,” he said, noting that previously, fences had constricted their movements.

But the benefits will extend beyond the elk, too, Molvar said. While at least two ranches plan to continue operating, the 12 that close through the settlement will reduce the number of cattle in the area from more than 10,000 to around 200.

This reduction in grazing will help restore native coastal grasslands, he said, and give other native species dependent on those grasses a better chance to thrive. In turn, those native grasses should help streams see less sedimentation and erosion, improving salmon and steelhead runs, as well, he said. And, the public will get more access to expanded trails and camping sites.

But Molvar said that despite the victory, he wasn’t breaking out the champagne.

“This is a compromise,” he said. “We had to accept some outcomes that we didn’t like in order to get the outcomes that we really wanted.”

The settlement will reduce the amount of land used for ranching by roughly 85%. Lessees leaving the seashore will split a sum of around $40 million, and employees on the ranches will divide about $2.5 million in relocation assistance.

Michael Bell, director of protection at the Nature Conservancy in California, which was brought in to mediate and is footing the bill for the ranchers’ settlement, acknowledged the agreement is a profound cultural shift.

“It’s a big transformative land use change,” he said. “There were all the emotions, but also a lot of pride that all the parties were able to get [to a solution], and a lot of determination to make this a success.”

For Lunny, however, the decision to leave the seashore is more bitter than sweet. As the ranchers, workers and their families relocate, the community that supports them will also be affected, he said.

“We’re losing our rural character,” Lunny said. “We know that our agreeing to this has profound repercussions on our community. And that’s what tugs at our hearts.”

The National Park Service will be responsible for overseeing the removal of cows and ranching infrastructure on roughly 16,000 acres of ranchland inside the national park.

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