The ranchers, environmental nonprofits and park service officials attempting to settle a lawsuit demanding an end to commercial agriculture in the Point Reyes National Seashore have once again extended their negotiations. They were due to give a progress report to U.S. District Court Judge Maxine M. Chesney last Friday but have pushed off the update until Oct. 18. “Mediation continues and has been productive, so we have extended the date for our next case management conference,” said Melanie Gunn, a spokeswoman for the seashore who declined to say more about the discussions. The confidential talks are aimed at resolving a lawsuit filed by the Resource Renewal Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project, which challenged a 2021 update to the park’s general management plan that allowed for 20-year lease extensions to ranchers and the culling of elk herds if they surpassed set population levels. The plaintiffs assert that the plan—which was itself created in response to an earlier lawsuit by the same groups—was an abdication of the park’s conservation duties. While the lawsuit is pending, the ranchers have been operating under short-term leases that make it difficult for them to receive bank loans or engage in long-term planning.