In Point Reyes National Seashore, ranchers and elk are finding themselves at odds, embroiled in a dilemma that has plagued elk reserves and their neighbors for close to a century: free-ranging 700-pound elk, minus predators or restraint, can equal one very big, very hungry problem.
California’s tule elk have been the focal point of contention and controversy since their rescue from the brink of extinction in the 1870s. As their numbers rebounded, state and federal…