Editorial: Ranches are part of balance of Point Reyes National Seashore

October 27, 2014

Point Reyes National Seashore officials got a good idea of the level of public interest in its update of its park management plan.

More than 3,000 comments were received during the six-week period when park officials invited people and groups to express their thoughts.

Not surprisingly, many of the comments reflected the split between those who want to continue the park's agricultural heritage and those who want to see the ranchlands returned to wilderness.

The plan was started in wake of former Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar's 2012 decision not to renew the longstanding lease for the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. While controversial, Salazar also sought to ease concerns that shuttering the oyster farm was a first step toward removing the roughly two dozen dairies that still operate within the park.

He directed the park to come up with a plan to extend the leases with the park's ranches.

"Ranching operations have a long and important history on the Point Reyes peninsula and will be continued at Point Reyes National Seashore. I have directed that the superintendent work with the operators of these ranches to ensure that sustainable agriculture production continues and plays an important role in the local economy," Salazar said.

But he retired soon after and ranchers are justifiably worried that with his departure so goes his promise.

Some of the comments received by the park certainly challenge Salazar's promise.

The dairies are an affront to those who contend parks' abilities to restore and protect wilderness should be paramount.

That is a noble vision for some areas, but one that ignores the importance of those ranches to Marin's agricultural economy and the livelihoods of many local families and hundreds of workers.

Rep. Jared Huffman has pledged his support for keeping Salazar's promise. Huffman said he would work "to ensure the long-term viability of sustainable agriculture in the seashore."

Preservation of the ranches was a critical concession in the 1962 establishment of the seashore, which now covers 28,000 acres.

These ranches and their herds are a large portion of the critical mass that keeps local agriculture viable and strong. Removal of ranches and grazing lands would undermine that viability.

Increasing the lengths of leases to a more reasonable 20 years would certainly help keep the park's ranches strong. The current 10-year leases are an impediment for the financing of improvements in their operations.

Although the park has routinely renewed those leases, a 20-year extension does more to promote economic sustainability.

Certainly, because the ranches are operating on public parklands they face issues regarding access, environmental monitoring and building limits. Those issues should be addressed in the new park.

Also, among the Point Reyes ranchers' concerns is the park's tule elk that have moved onto ranches' grazing lands, competing with livestock for grasslands and, in some cases, knocking down fences.

Ranchers have called on the park to do a better job of keeping elk away from grazing land.

In developing a new management plan, park officials must seek to retain and strengthen the park's historic 28,000-acre balance between the ranches, park uses and wilderness.

There will continue to be political pressure favoring conversion of wilderness over the others.

Hopefully, the new management plan will reflect what both Salazar and Huffman understand; that the long-term vitality of these ranches is important beyond the confines of the park.