U.S. Representative Jared Huffman has secured a $1 million appropriation for “transition assistance” to dairies in West Marin, while a leading land conservation organization has joined settlement talks that will determine the future of agriculture in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
Parties to the confidential mediation between ranchers, the park service and the environmental groups that sued the park declined to discuss either development, and Rep. Huffman’s office did not respond to requests for comment. But some ranching advocates expressed concern that they could presage the end of dairying in the seashore.
The $1 million appropriation was touted in a brief announcement posted on Rep. Huffman’s website last month that says the money would provide relocation assistance to organic dairy operators facing an array of economic and environmental challenges, including lease termination. The funds would be administered by Marin County.
“The funding would be used to restart organic dairy farms in the North San Francisco Bay that are facing a gutted market for organic milk, environmental conditions severely reducing on-farm forage production, feed cost increases from supply chain bottlenecks and inflation, and lease termination,” the post said.
The announcement did not mention the seashore, but settlement talks there are focused on whether, and for how long, the 21 dairies and ranches in the park should continue operating. Melanie Gunn, a spokeswoman for the park, said she was unaware of the funds.
Albert Straus, C.E.O. of Straus Family Creamery, which sources 15 percent of its milk from two of the five dairies in the park, believes the appropriation is designed to move dairies out of Point Reyes. But Rep. Huffman rebuffed that speculation as fear mongering.
In article published Tuesday in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Rep. Huffman chastised Mr. Straus for spreading “misinformed” rumors about the mediation. He said the talks were not aimed at removing ranchers from the park, but that two of the dairies were already interested in leaving. Rep. Huffman is not part of the mediation talks but has signed a nondisclosure agreement because he speaks with each of the parties.
Last week, another article in the Press Democrat revealed that a national nonprofit was participating in the settlement talks. Mr. Straus said the engagement of the Nature Conservancy raised new questions about the potential removal of the dairies, which he said were facing a buyout attempt funded by the nonprofit.
Ranches and dairies, which have been operating in the park since the 1800s, are currently operating under short-term lease agreements. In a 2021 update to its general management plan for the seashore, the National Park Service said it would offer 20-year leases, which ranchers say are necessary for them to receive the bank loans needed to upgrade their operations.
But three environmental groups sued the park, saying that commercial agriculture was damaging the environment and should be ended. Ranchers later joined the suit, which the parties have been mediating for over a year and a half.
Bradley O’Brien, the mediator overseeing the settlement talks, confirmed that the Nature Conservancy, a financially flush nonprofit with global reach, has joined the discussions. “The Nature Conservancy was invited by all of the litigating parties to join the mediation, with the intention of helping to secure a long-term resolution,” he said in a statement.
It is unclear whether the nonprofit would contribute funds to buy out ranches and dairies or help broker an agreement to allow them to continue operating in an environmentally sustainable manner. The nonprofit owns 500,000 acres of grazing lands in the U.S. and is involved in restorative land-use projects around the world.
“The Nature Conservancy has a wonderful reputation for working collaboratively with local communities to support environmentally sound agriculture,” said Judy Teichman, a Point Reyes Station resident and an advocate for ranches and dairies in the park. “It would be very disappointing to learn that the conservancy had participated in a confidential mediation process that resulted in the loss of the historic family-operated dairies and ranches.”
The conservancy is a fundraising juggernaut, raising nearly $875 million dollars in donations and membership dues last year.
“The Nature Conservancy should be investing in these farms to make them a model of sustainable carbon farming in the national seashore,” Mr. Straus told the Light. “They have a long history of working with farms around the country. They should be working with us, not against us.”
Environmental activists had a mixed response to the Nature Conservancy’s engagement. “The Nature Conservancy is heavy into ‘conservation’ grazing, which is yet another cattle industry euphemism designed to sustain a dying and damaging business,” said Ken Bouley, an outspoken opponent of commercial agriculture in the park who owns a second home in Inverness Park. “If their influence benefits what the public clearly wants—genuine restoration of our park—then great. Otherwise, not so great.”