For The Future Of Point Reyes Seashore Alternative F — No Ranching

Sep 18

“Think about all the beautiful redwood parks scattered up and down California's coast. Nearly all of these parklands were created by purchasing the land from private property owners, just like we, the public, bought the ranches that remain in Point Reyes National Seashore. Now imagine that the previous landowners not only refused to leave our redwood parks but continue to cut down redwoods even after we bought the land and the trees for preservation. That is precisely what is going on in Point Reyes National Seashore.”
-- George Wuerthner, Ecologist

Your comments are needed to the National Park Service’s (NPS) Draft General Management Plan Amendment for our national seashore. Under the plan, fully one-third of Point Reyes National Seashore will be dedicated to cattle ranching for decades to come. The NPS’s own Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) enumerates the impacts of cattle ranching to endangered species, wildlife habitat, water quality, and the climate, but ignores these impacts to satisfy 24 ranchers who sold their land to the public nearly 60 years ago and still run their cattle in this national park.

Under the NPS plan, in addition to beef and dairy operations, each rancher would be allowed to expand to include commercial crops, pigs, sheep, goats, and up to 500 chickens—as well as open retail operations in the Seashore. The EIS avoids any discussion of how the park service will respond when conflicts arise between livestock and wildlife. But it may mean a death sentence for bobcats, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, and birds that prey on the ranchers’ small livestock.

The Seashore’s iconic Tule elk are explicitly in the crosshairs. Point Reyes Seashore is the only national park where these rare native elk exist. Cows outnumber elk 10 to 1. The NPS plan the elk calls for culling 10-15 elk annually to maintain a population 120. Any free-roaming elk that forage on land leased for cattle will be shot.

The NPS plan extends grazing leases from 5 to 20 years, with the addition of 7,600 more acres of the park currently unauthorized for cattle grazing.

Local ranches outside the park—that operate on their own land, not the public’s land—are using more sustainable ranching practices in order to minimize their impacts to the environment. Ranchers at the Seashore do not. Under the NPS plan, methods to counter climate change, such as cutting methane and sequestering carbon, are voluntary.

In reality, the NPS is already underfunded. Limited staff is hard pressed to enforce existing grazing lease conditions, let alone more intensive ranching foreseen under this plan. The Seashore has been overstocked and overgrazed. Poor ranching practices have led to soil erosion, water pollution, habitat destruction, invasive plants, and spreading cattle disease to the park’s wildlife.

There are only 6 days left to speak up for the biodiversity and environmental health of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Your comments are critical. The comment period ends September 23, 2019

We need a new vision for the Seashore: No ranching. (Alternative F)

Phase out the ranches.
Disallow all commercial livestock in the park.
Prioritize wildlife over domestic cattle.
Biodiversity should not be sacrificed to private ranching,
Restore wildlife habitat and native plant communities
Repurpose historic ranch buildings for scientific research, interpretation and public education.

For more tips and talking points for commenting on the NPS’s Draft Plan for Point Reyes National Seashore: secure.everyaction.com/p/CeAAaqMGS0S04BiMcOFvog2

To submit your comment on the draft plan: parkplanning.NPS.gov/poregmpa

PS: A 2-MINUTE PHONE CALL: (202) 225-5161
Last year, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), in partnership with Seashore ranchers and anti-public lands Republicans in Congress, introduced a bill to make the 24 ranches at our national seashore permanent. The bill failed in the Senate. Now Rep. Huffman is pushing to “remove” the Tule elk from the Seashore and threatens to revive his failed bill unless the Park Service gives the ranchers what they want. Huffman has a good record, recently voting to protect the Arctic Refuge. But here’s the political point: Caribou don’t vote. We do. Let him know you want him to protect the national park in his own backyard.