Ranchers Are Making a Killing in Our National Seashore
You can help! Please send your comments to the NPS’s Draft General Management Plan Amendment before September 23, 2019.
At California’s magnificent Point Reyes National Seashore, the Park Service is about to approve the expansion of dairy and beef ranching for decades to come—and killing any native Tule elk that get in the way.
Congress established Point Reyes National Seashore to protect a uniquely beautiful wild place for the enjoyment of the American people. The Seashore was not created to reward private ranchers with never-ending below-market leases that endanger the park’s fragile environment.
The 1962 Point Reyes National Seashore Act reads “to save and preserve, for purposes of public recreation, benefit, and inspiration, a portion of the diminishing seashore the United States that remains undeveloped.” There is no mention of guaranteeing two-dozen ranchers permanence in the park or providing them services and subsidies in order to keep them in business.
Yet, a draft plan by the National Park Service does just that, adding to concerns that ranching interests predominate public interest at the expense of the wildlife, land, water, recreation, and climate.
The ranchers were well compensated for their land in the 1970s and allowed to remain in park for their lifetime or 25 years. The ranchers acknowledged that ranching and a national park don’t mix. Testifying to the Senate on behalf of his fellow ranchers, Boyd Stewart said: “Dairying with the necessity of confining large herds of cattle tightly into pasture is not compatible with the public ownership of land”.
That was 44 years ago.
Pressured by politicians and lobbyists, the Park Service has continued to rubberstamp five-year lease extensions for these ranchers. Today, land dedicated to grazing comprises a third of the Park’s 75,000 acres.
The park’s waterways are some the most polluted in California; native plants are trammeled and imperiled by cattle; and wildlife are endangered by cattle disease, fencing, and habitat loss. Under the NPS’s proposed plan, native Tule elk that were on the brink of extinction when the species was reintroduced to Seashore, would be killed to give the domestic cattle more room to graze. The NPS estimates 15-20 elk would be shot annually. Cattle in the park outnumber Tule elk 10 to 1.
In addition to their 6,000 beef and dairy cows ranchers may be allowed to raise crops, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens; acquire unprecedented 20-year leases; and transfer their leases to non-family members for the first time in history.
Congressman Jared Huffman, in partnership with anti-public lands Republican Rob Bishop of Utah, has sought to circumvent the public in the planning process through legislation unless the Park Service advances a plan for continued ranching. So it’s not surprising that NPS proposed “Alternative B”, one of six alternatives under consideration, acquiesces totally to the ranchers’ wish list, ignoring the NPS’s own Environmental Impact Statement that predicts continued damage to the park’s ecology, already degraded by decades of ranching and grazing.
How you can help
Although NPS has already issued its recommended plan, the public still has the opportunity to fight back. Send your comments to the NPS by September 23, 2019.
Find suggested comments at restoreptreyesseashore.org
National parks are meant to be places of refuge for wildlife and people. We have our work cut out for us at Point Reyes National Seashore. We’re reaching out to you—the owners of America’s public lands—to let the Park Service know your concerns about ranching’s hold on the Seashore and what you want instead.
Thank you for your ongoing support. We couldn’t do it without you.
