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.

One year ago, the environmental movement lost Huey Johnson. Huey’s 60-year career as an environmental leader and innovator, his integrity and his persistence left a tremendous legacy and stand as a guidepost for getting things done for the environment. At Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), the nonprofit Huey founded in Marin 35 years ago, his spirit and lessons are an ongoing source of inspiration. Sorting through some old files I came upon a letter from former Governor Jerry Brown, who appointed Huey as California’s Secretary of Natural Resources. In it, Brown quotes Huey who, he says, imparted to him an important political lesson, “When it comes to the environment, it’s not enough to do what works–you have to do what is right”.

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:

Today, June 5, is World Environment Day and official launch of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration— a rallying cry to reverse the degradation of our planet and help Nature heal. 
At RRI, we’re reminded of our beloved colleague, Professor Wangari Maathai, (1940-2011), founder of the Greenbelt Movement of Kenya. As a scientist, a government critic, and an environmental activist, Wangari endured gender bias and persecution by those in power. And yet, she persisted—planting more than 51 million trees in Kenya, restoring forests and improving the lives of rural women across Africa. 

My life has been indescribably enriched by public lands, and one of the most beautiful on earth is fast losing its wildness: Point Reyes National Seashore. Tragically, the very organization charged with protecting Point Reyes, the national park, is hastening its demise. 

Located in the densely populated San Francisco Bay Area, Point Reyes is a refuge and wilderness destination for locals and visitors from around the world. An internationally recognized biodiversity hotspot, Point Reyes stretches across thousands of acres of sandy dunes, rocky beaches, coastal grasslands, and expansive marine habitats.

On April 22, the California Coastal Commission held a virtual hearing to discuss the impact of dairy and cattle ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. Superintendent Craig Kenkel began his presentation with the words, “Point Reyes is the ancestral home of the Coast Miwok.” Kenkel spent the rest of his talk advocating for a Park Service proposal to increase the terms of ranching leases from five to 20 years. This, despite the findings of an Environmental Impact Statement released by the National Park Service last year which revealed multiple harms caused by 150 years of bovine-centric agriculture at the seashore.

The California Coastal Commission narrowly approved the consistency determination regarding the National Park Service (NPS) plans for ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore.  The Commissioner approved, by 5-4 vote the conditional concurrence recommended by Commission staff with additional amendments. Three additional amendments were unanimously adopted by the Commissioners.  

Citing an ongoing die-off of rare Tule elk at the Tomales Point Elk Reserve on Point Reyes National Seashore, conservation and animal advocacy groups today filed a formal petition with the National Park Service to remove an eight- foot-tall fence that confines the park’s main elk herd to a narrow peninsula that lacks adequate water and forage during droughts.

The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a press release revealing that 152 Tule elk, one-third of the Tomales Point herd, died at Point Reyes National Seashore.  The deaths occurred because elk were trapped behind an 8-foot fence that encloses the park’s Tule Elk Reserve, where the NPS confines the rare elk to keep them off parklands reserved for cattle.

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.”

A week before its public hearing before the California Coastal Commission, the National Park Service (NPS) withdrew its application seeking Commission approval for a controversial General Management Plan Amendment (GMPA) for ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation. The hearing has not been rescheduled.

It’s no secret that the Trump Administration is fast-tracking leases for drilling, logging, mining, and grazing on Americans’ public lands. The plan to extend ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore is no exception. Trump’s Department of Interior is intent on having the Record of Decision for this damaging plan signed, sealed and delivered before January 20, 2021. A final step in the process is the California Coastal Commission’s decision as to whether the National Park Service’s (NPS) plan for the Seashore is “consistent” with State laws protecting the coast.

As the Trump Administration continues to shuffle National Park Service personnel, Craig Kenkel has been named the Superintendent at Point Reyes National Seashore, replacing Superintendent Cecily Muldoon and a parade of Acting Superintendents.

Big thanks to all who submitted comments to the Draft Plan for Ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore! The NPS says it received 7,600 public comments to the plan!  This doesn’t include 700 comments that it refused to count collected by ForElk activists who spent months educating folks at farmers markets, film screenings, street fairs, and from their pop-up display outside the Point Reyes Visitor Center. Under the Trump administration censorship has become a growing trend in our government, including at the National Park Service.

The NPS has announced it final plan for Point Reyes National Seashore. The plan includes:

• Killing native Tule elk to support cattle ranchers

• Allowing more livestock in the Seashore

• Installing a 4-mile fence to keep elk off parklands leased for cattle

• Converting grasslands to commercial crops

• The public pays the bill