Learn about this national gem and how its being devastated by pollution, habitat loss and giveaways to private industry
Learn about this national gem and how its being devastated by pollution, habitat loss and giveaways to private industry
A National Seashore that truly honors the history of the Coast Miwok in Point Reyes, preserving important cultural and historic sites, as well as taking care to respect and encourage indigenous participation. We listen to Indigenous voices and help make a better future.
The preservation, stewardship, and restoration of the entire Coastal Prairie Ecosystem where wildlife can flourish and be undisturbed and unpolluted by the extractive commercial ranching found across Marin County.
A National Seashore that works to attract a wider variety of people, while protecting the ecology and is accessible to low income communities from the Bay Area and protected for use by the countless generations to come
Point Reyes will become a component of the 30 by 30 plan and function as an important Carbon Sink on the West Coast as it's our ONLY National Seashore on this side of the Continental U.S.
Disregarding climate change, science and more than 7,000 comments from the public, the NPS has released its final General Management Plan Amendment for ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. The plan extends 20-year leases to the 24 ranchers grazing cattle in the National Seashore, allows livestock diversification, and calls for the killing of native Tule elk.
Kehoe Lagoon seethes with 300 times the acceptable amount of Enterococcus, E. Coli's nasty bacterial cousin. Public records show that Park Service administrators and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board have long known that astronomically high levels of microorganisms flow directly from livestock into the Park’s recreational and fishing waters. And these agencies have done nothing to effectively eliminate the source of the potentially lethal bacterial invasions.
Last year the CCC narrowly approved a plan put forth by the National Park Service on the management of Point Reyes Seashore. It came with some conditions surrounding a comprehensive water quality and climate action plan which they had one year to complete.
One year later, after hearing the National Park Service's plan, the CCC voted unanimously to reject it.
State regulators are threatening to rescind their approval of the National Park Service’s controversial land management plan in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Members of the California Coastal Commission are considering the reversal after the park service asked to delay reports it promised to give the commission next month on how it plans to address water pollution and climate impacts caused by cattle ranching.
My life has been indescribably enriched by public lands, and one of the most beautiful on earth is fast losing its wildness: Point Reyes National Seashore.
Tragically, the very organization charged with protecting Point Reyes, the national park, is hastening its demise.
If approved, the (NPS) proposal will turn this national seashore into a national disgrace.
"You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts." (Daniel P. Moynihan)
There is no shortage of opinions on ranching in Point Reyes National Seashore, but there is a shortage of durable facts.
Join subject matter experts to learn what is fact and what is fiction regarding various issues related to PRNS.
Read the full paper HERE.
On April 22, the California Coastal Commission held a virtual hearing to discuss the impact of dairy and cattle ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. Superintendent Craig Kenkel began his presentation with the words, “Point Reyes is the ancestral home of the Coast Miwok.” Kenkel spent the rest of his talk advocating for a Park Service proposal to increase the terms of ranching leases from five to 20 years.
The McClure dairy, the largest and oldest dairy in the seashore, will shut down, citing water shortages and a glut of organic milk.
As McClure’s blinks out, now would seem the time to follow up on Rep. Huffman’s suggestion to "expand wilderness areas and maybe even we’ll be expanding elk herds further. "
Contact: lcunningham@westernwatersheds.org
Laura is at the forefront of the coalition to save Point Reyes National Seashore as scientist, artist, ecologist and the California Director for the Western Watersheds Project. She is also the author of “State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California,” a Gold Medal Winner of the 2011 California Book Award addressing native California ecosystems that are disappearing as a result of agricultural conversion and development.
An important alternative to seriously consider for how Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area are managed into the future, is a gradual restoration of the livestock zone back to its native plant vegetation and habitat for native animal species. At present, only relict areas of native coastal prairie exist. These relicts hang on in areas that cattle do not access, whether because these are on pasture edges too far from dairy operations, or because they are outside fenced pastures along roadsides or other small exclusions.
Tule elk should be allowed to naturally return to these restoring native plant communities. All relict native grassland patches should be inventoried by the park, mapped, and fully protected from all livestock grazing and disturbance. These can be used as reference sites and seed sources for future restoration efforts. Using standard native plant restoration techniques, these reference sites can be used to increase plants for plantings and re-seedings using local genetic sources, to disturbed areas of the Pastoral Zone where livestock impacts have removed the native plant communities and caused soil removal and erosion.
In California introduced annual grasslands--which currently dominate the Pastoral Zone--continuing disturbance causes declines in palatable species and an increase in non-native early seral weed species. Livestock grazing must be removed to allow the recovery and increase of sensitive coastal prairie and wet meadow species. After native herbaceous plant communities have begun to take a foothold in impacted livestock pastures, and are increasing and well on the way to recovery, methods for balancing coyote bush and bush lupine can be considered.
Prescribed cultural fire methods and tule elk grazing can maintain coastal prairie and other native plant communities in restored areas. Less than one percent of California's native grassland is still intact today. The ideal conservation strategy is to collect seed from local grasses, send it to a nursery, and have it grown out on a landscape scale to create a supply for restoration projects. This is being done in the East Bay. It is long past time for Point Reyes National Seashore to be fully restored.
Remove the 300-plus miles of barbed wire fences, and restore access to these public lands with new trails.
Restore tribal cultural management to these lands, and restore Indigenous access to areas such as Felix Cove.
Together, we can Restore the Shore!
Learn more about coastal prairies and what the future of Point Reyes National Seashore could be.