Point Reyes National Seashore conservation plan gets $2.7M grant

A state agency has awarded the Nature Conservancy $2.7 million to plan a restoration effort across nearly 17,000 acres in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The California Wildlife Conservation Board voted unanimously last month to grant the funds to the well-funded environmental nonprofit that has been deeply involved in the historic settlement agreement struck with ranchers. The money will be used to design a plan to modernize fencing and water infrastructure and restore the coastal land after decades of dairy and cattle ranching.

The project area is set to be vacated by the ranchers, who agreed to give up their leases in exchange for payments under the settlement announced earlier this year after a contentious land-use dispute.

The planning grant “is a critical first step in establishing a land stewardship program to support grazing and restoration efforts on the seashore,” said Rodd Kelsey, land program director at the Nature Conservancy.

“TNC is committed to working closely with local partners and the community in the development, and ultimately, the implementation of these plans to restore and protect the natural heritage of this iconic California landscape,” Kelsey said.

The settlement announced in January came after mediated negotiations involving the National Park Service, ranchers and environmental groups suing to have the ranches removed. The plaintiffs protested the presence of commercial dairies in a national park.

The Nature Conservancy joined the negotiation in 2022 to help find incentives for a settlement, seeing it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the future of 28,000 acres of coastal prairie near the Bay Area’s 7.5 million residents.

The agreement requires 12 of the 14 ranches and dairies operating in the seashore to cease operations by early 2026.

Once abandoned, the ranch pastures will be restored in a collaboration among the National Park Service, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and the Nature Conservancy, which has been involved in restorative land-use projects around the world.

Kelsey said parts of the landscape have been affected by decades of cultivation and manure spreading where invasive weeds now dominate.

“This grant will also support development of restoration plan for these areas where targeted grazing will not be enough to restore the native habitat and address the fire risk of the landscape,” Kelsey said.

The grant also supports the development of a research and monitoring plan to manage the area in the long term.

The funding comes from Senate Bill 108, which budgeted $10.2 million for the Wildlife Conservation Board to use in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Mark Topping, a spokesperson for the agency, said that so far the Nature Conservancy has only applied for $2.7 million. Any additional funding requests from that pool of money would require a separate application and consideration by the board, Topping said.

Kelsey said the Nature Conservancy plans to apply for the remaining funding “in order to execute on the plans it will develop under this first grant and fulfill its obligations under the settlement.”

The settlement has drawn a Republican-led investigation by the House Committee on Natural Resources. It opened its inquiry in April after Andrew Giacomini, a lawyer in western Marin, filed a complaint in federal court.

Giacomini’s suit alleged that the National Park Service conspired with the Nature Conservancy to pay ranchers to relinquish their leases so the conservancy could lease the sites.

Giacomini is representing people who live on the ranches and dairies that are going to be closed, all of whom face eviction. Most are Latino residents, and some are agricultural workers who also will lose their jobs.

The owners of Niman Ranch and Marin Sun Farms, the two Point Reyes ranches that were not part of the settlement, also have sued to overturn the seashore transformation.

Supporters of the restoration turned out to the Aug. 28 hearing to encourage the Wildlife Conservation Board to award the funds.

“The national seashore is one of the most important coastal areas for biodiversity in California,” said Jun Bando, executive director of the California Native Plant Society.

“The project area has been degraded by agricultural operations and the introduction of invasive species,” Bando said. “Conservation and restoration of these habitats will require active stewardship guided by plans for managed grazing, restoration and science and monitoring, as TNC has proposed.”

“This moment represents the culmination of decades of advocacy and the beginning of a new chapter of Point Reyes’ conservation story, and we look forward to you all joining us,” said Chance Cutrano of the Resource Renewal Institute, one of the plaintiffs in the suit to remove ranching from the seashore.

Albert Straus, chief executive officer of the Straus Dairy and the Straus Family Creamery and leader of the group called Save Marin County Ag, addressed the Wildlife Conservation Board to present a different view.

Straus said the settlement is devastating.

“We’ve built an organic farming and food community that is a model for the world,” Straus said. “We’re losing over 200 members of our community that are being evicted by the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy, and we are in crisis.”