Tag: dairy ranches

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Agriculture/Food System, Habitats, Land Use, WildlifeTags , ,

Deal announced to end most ranching in Point Reyes National Seashore

John Beck, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Nearly three years after environmental groups sued the National Park Service, most of the ranches in Point Reyes National Seashore have agreed to shut down and stop farming as part of a landmark settlement, the park announced late Wednesday.

The park will phase out farming at 12 out of 14 ranches operating within the seashore over a period of 15 months, said park spokesperson Melanie Gunn. Two other ranches are seeking to continue under new long-term lease extensions, she said.

The deal was brokered by The Nature Conservancy in closed-door talks involving the ranches, the environmental groups and the park service.

Read more at https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/news/point-reyes-national-seashore-ranches-deal-nature-conservancy/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Habitats, Land Use, WildlifeTags , , ,

National Park Service agrees to halt removal of disputed Point Reyes seashore fence, but Tomales Point elk are already roaming freely

John Beck, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The National Park Service agreed in court Friday to stop taking down the fence in Point Reyes National Seashore that separates several hundred tule elk from adjacent dairy farms and ranches, bowing for now to a last-minute legal challenge from ranchers.

It’s the latest twist in the ongoing saga of an 8-foot-high fence that environmentalists are calling the “ungulate Berlin Wall” and ranchers see as the next step in an ongoing push to oust them from the park.

“It’s a win for what it’s worth,” seashore rancher Kevin Lunny said of Friday’s court proceeding.

In the hearing in U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s San Francisco courtroom, attorneys for the federal government agreed to halt fence removal that started Tuesday morning, a day after park officials issued a decision to remove the nearly 50-year-old fence, culminating several years of public comment and environmental assessment.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/point-reyes-seashore-elk-fence-ranchers/