The three environmental groups that sued to end ranching in the seashore didn’t get everything they wanted from the settlement of their lawsuit last week—but they got a lot.
They entered the negotiations with one overarching goal: eliminating ranching from the Point Reyes National Seashore. But two ranches will remain in the park, and seven more will continue their operations in the neighboring Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Nevertheless, the closure of 12 ranches and all four dairies on Point Reyes will result in the radical transformation of the landscape that environmentalists sought when they filed suit against the National Park Service’s updated general management plan three years ago.
And the park’s tule elk, which became a flashpoint in the debate over the seashore’s future, will roam free throughout the 71,000-acre park as the fence at the Tomales Point elk reserve comes down.
“It’s a major game changer on the Point Reyes National Seashore, with important progress on tule elk and an opportunity to restore native coastal grassland,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, one of three groups that sued the park.
Mr. Molvar sees the updated management plan resulting from last week’s settlement as both a win and a compromise. Although not all the ranchers will leave, those that remain will receive long-term leases, and those that depart will receive financial compensation from the Nature Conservancy, which joined the settlement talks in 2023.
Heirs of the remaining ranchers will be able to continue their operations in the future, if they uphold lease conditions.
“Environmental interests really do get some major gains, even as the remaining ranchers get a lot more stability,” he said. “Those that voluntarily chose to depart are able to benefit from the buyouts.”
An updated general management plan approved in 2021 would have granted 20-year lease extensions to all 21 ranches and dairies managed by the seashore, including several in the northern reaches of the G.G.N.R.A. But since the environmental groups first sued the park over ranching in 2016, the ranchers have been operating on short-term leases, leaving them unable to access bank loans or make long-term investments.
Moving forward, 16,000 of 28,000 acres of former and current ranch and dairy lands will be reclassified as a “scenic landscape zone” where commercial agriculture is banned. To reduce fire risk from invasive species, some grasslands will be maintained through targeted grazing of beef cattle or restored with native coastal scrub and chaparral.
Park officials and the Nature Conservancy will collaborate on strategies for restoring the landscape, in consultation with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a federally recognized tribe that has a co-stewardship agreement with the park. The Nature Conservancy will sign a cooperative agreement with the park to manage the grazing.
“The park service has a lot of flexibility to conduct that program in a way that restores native coastal grasslands,” Mr. Molvar said. “We’re going to be watching very closely and with great interest to see that that restoration does indeed come to pass.”
The negotiations between park officials, ranchers and environmental groups were difficult but civil, despite the sharp differences among the parties at the table, said Chance Cutrano, executive director of the Resource Renewal Institute, another plaintiff in the lawsuits, along with the Center for Biological Diversity.
“We worked shoulder-to-shoulder to forge an agreement that honors both our human connections and our conservation commitments to the remarkable landscape that is the Point Reyes National Seashore,” said Mr. Cutrano, a Fairfax resident. “This historic settlement really creates a framework to protect the seashore’s irreplaceable natural resources for generations to come.”
Although the talks were respectful, he said, the parties remained at odds even after a year at the negotiating table. At the outset, the conversations weren’t about buyouts, but a broader search for solutions. “The Nature Conservancy’s involvement was a catalyst that really brought a lot of momentum to the conversation,” he said.
As sections of some 300-plus miles of barbed wire fencing come down, he said, the park will be transformed.
“For the first time since their extirpation back in 1800s, tule elk will roam freely across the entirety of the peninsula as one integrated herd,” he said. “The opportunity now presented for ecosystem restoration and wildlife habitat is incredible. There will be a long-term benefit to both the wildlife and the people who recreate and find inspiration on the coast.”
Among other public-access benefits, he said, the changes will allow for an enhanced trail system for hikers, bikers and horseback riders as well as increased camping opportunities.
Mr. Cutrano stressed that he sees the agreement as more of a launchpad than an end point. He said all the parties must continue to work together to ensure a smooth transition for the departing ranchers, and especially the farmworkers and other park residents, who will be displaced within 15 months.
“If we don’t get those things right, this plan doesn’t work,” he said, speaking at the town hall meeting hosted by Rep. Jared Huffman in Point Reyes Station on Saturday, where he addressed a largely hostile crowd of ranching supporters.
For some environmental activists, the deal didn’t go far enough.
“We want all private polluting cattle ranches out of Point Reyes and all of them out of the public G.G.N.R.A. lands, too,” said Jack Gescheidt, a plaintiff in a separate lawsuit that demanded the removal of the Tomales Point elk fence. “Elk should be free to roam on public G.G.N.R.A. lands, which this deal prohibits.”
The amended general management plan challenged by the suit would have allowed culling to maintain certain herd sizes, but the settlement preserves current park policy, which only allows culling in rare instances. Mr. Gescheidt lamented the fact that elk can also be still be culled on G.G.N.R.A. lands if they eventually cross Highway 1 and enter the Olema Valley ranches.
He also objects to the plans for controlled grazing in the new scenic landscape zone. “Why are cows going to be used to mow the proverbial lawns of invasive grasses, which were brought in by ranchers in the first place to feed the cows, instead of letting wild tule elk eat vegetation to reduce wildfire risk?”
Despite such reservations, opponents of ranching in the park see the settlement as a significant win.
“Setting aside any deficiencies in the agreement, it represents durable progress toward bringing Point Reyes in line with national park principles, the law, and the overwhelming will of the American public,” said Ken Bouley, executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. “Now, we want to focus on what this has been all about from the beginning: restoration.”
Ashley Eagle-Gibbs, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, called the settlement a “momentous decision” and a net positive for the seashore’s biodiversity.
“Of course, this will require management, and we plan to continue engaging with partners and the park to protect these invaluable resources for future generations,” she said.