Close to Home: A land grab at Point Reyes

The outcome of the battle to end the leases for the nearly 6,000 grazing cattle polluting Point Reyes National Seashore — the ecological heart of the protected 900-mile California coast — will have far-reaching impacts.

In a historic 5-4 vote, the California Coastal Commission reluctantly approved a National Park Service plan that grants 20-year leases to a few well-connected ranchers to graze cattle on thousands of acres of national parkland. The controversial plan drew nearly 50,000 public comments, protest demonstrations and vigorous testimony in opposition to the extensive environmental damage and costs of an industry that has long gotten a free ride in the only national seashore on the Pacific coast.

The park service plan overwhelmingly favors a handful of beef and dairy ranchers who pocketed millions of public dollars when they sold their land to the federal government 50 years ago and continue to lease one-third of the seashore today, though many of them own agricultural land outside the park.

A 2016 lawsuit brought by three environmental organizations compelled the National Park Service to update its 40-year-old management plan for the park. The settlement required the park service to complete its first-ever environmental impact statement on ranching at the seashore and adjacent Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The park service does little oversight or environmental enforcement at the ranches. Alarming levels of water pollution threaten rare species and public health; silage grown in the park for cattle feed has spread invasive plants and draws on scarce water; crows and ravens at ranches feed on endangered species like the snowy plover; cattle routinely foul waterways and beaches; they are the largest source of greenhouse gases at a coastal park unprepared for sea level rise.

The National Park Service has elevated the cattle over the native wildlife. Tule elk — found in no other national park — will be shot to ensure grass for the beef and dairy cattle. Chickens, goats and sheep will soon be added to the park for the sake of diversifying ranching as consumer demand for beef and dairy declines.

More than 2.5 million visitors arrive at the seashore annually. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of close-to-home outdoor recreation. Yet rather than expand public access, interpretation or visitor services, the park service is investing its scarce resources to keep these ranches in business for generations to come.

The park service venerates ranching as a “cultural resource” and commits 28,000 public acres to it. The history and culture of the Native Americans who inhabited the area for millenniums before European settlers and their cattle arrived in the mid-1800s are represented by a one-acre “Miwok Village.”

In a hearing that stretched 12 hours, the Coastal Commission added conditions to the seashore ranching plan, requiring the park service to address water pollution and climate impacts. But heavy-handed pressure by the Marin County supervisors (Supervisor Katie Rice is a coastal commissioner) and Rep. Jared Huffman has undermined the park service's mandate to conserve our national parks “unimpaired for future generations.”

Ranching at the seashore has long benefited a privileged few. The public pays the price. But park, wildlife and environmental justice advocates are demanding a different future — restoration, not exploitation of our park. It's time for the National Park Service to change course and phase out cattle ranching at our national seashore. Be part of that change. Stop the land grab. Write to Interior Secretary Deborah Haaland, who will decide whether the ranching plan goes forward.

Martin Griffin, a retired physician, is a longtime environmental activist. He lives in Belvedere.

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