The news of the ranching settlement brought about two interrelated emotions for many of us locals: disappointment and sadness. Disappointment in a group of elitists who are callously ripping apart families and our community, and sadness for those caught in the crossfire. This settlement wasn’t an outcome borne of the merit of one side’s position, but rather a victory through attrition for the well-funded, scorched-earth environmentalists who seek to turn Point Reyes into a utopia for the rich. Now that they’ve succeeded, we are left to pick up the pieces.  

Nobody in this community is anti-environment. We all appreciate the beauty of the seashore and vigorously oppose any degradation of the environment. But we also understand that decisions based on human impacts are viewed along a spectrum, and that cost-benefit analyses must be undertaken. Very few things in life are zero-sum, and context matters.  

Here, the balance of equities weighs clearly against those who seek to shut down ranching in the seashore.  

To be clear, the closure of the ranches will be devasting. Full stop, no hyperbole. And that’s because we are talking about people. We are talking about erasing generations of familial connections and memories; forcing people who have known one purpose only to change their identities and restart their lives; demanding that those without the means to do so pick up everything, move their families and find new jobs; and ripping children from their support systems and friendships. Damage that money alone cannot fix.  

Nor is the damage limited to those directly impacted. I sit on our school board and have a child in third grade. Taking children out will have a profoundly negative impact on our schools, where certain classes stand to lose more than half their enrollment. One day our kids will be playing alongside friends they made in preschool; the next, those seats will be empty, never to be filled again. This is an outcome we know will come because we have watched our class sizes diminish as housing prices increase. Programs and funding will be at risk, and the learning environment will be forever altered. 

Worse yet, these are the students whose foundational schooling years were already upended by Covid. Kids, some of whom now struggle in social settings and who are still recovering from the results of the pandemic, will have their lives traumatized by another series of events that lie completely outside their control.

This series of events could have been avoided. To be sure, the weekenders who visit our town will claim some unverified and vague victory for Mother Nature. They will flippantly assert that any environmental impacts must be eradicated, excepting, of course, the impact of their 30-mile drive in polluting cars to watch birds or take photos.  

But the facts are clear—there is no environmental emergency here. The National Park Service has studied the impacts of ranching for years, while these litigious environmentalists had a decade to articulate the supposed grave harm. So far, we’ve seen scant evidence for concern. I’d posit that if they had the greater good in mind, they could easily find a litany of environmental causes of deeper concern to our planet, and where their millions of dollars might actually have an impact. Even within the ranching context, a simple drive down I-5 would provide better targets for their collective anti-ranching agenda. There are real environmental issues out there.  

Alas, these millionaires decided to embark on a decade-long war on the good people in our community, beating them down with a constant stream of lawsuits and personal attacks.  People we know and consider family. People like the Lunnys. The Padillas. The Romos. The Kehoes. The Francos. People I grew up with and to whose character we can all attest. People who make this community what it is, people who show up when we need them. And now the people who have been forced to leave. 

Nor will the closed-door settlement fix anything. It is not a win for anyone other than the environmentalists, who will be emboldened to file further lawsuits. And though we cannot possibly place a price tag on restarting one’s life and identity, I’m confident that the change left over for the ranch workers and residents won’t cut it. Once again, we’ve failed those who need us the most.  To those impacted: know that we love you, and have not given up on you.

What we needed here was empathy. A recognition that we would never support these actions if it were our children affected. But because of the actions of a few, what we’re left with is disappointment and sadness. 

Thomas Tyson grew up in the Point Reyes area and serves on the Shoreline Unified School District board. He lives in Inverness Park.