When ranchers leave the land, what version of nature takes over? The park and The Nature Conservancy have ambitious plans for restoration—but there are big challenges to manifesting the vision. Not least, how it will be paid for.
Tag: ranching
Science and Nature
Point Reyes is Far From the Only National Park that Hosts Agriculture
Ag has been in some national parks for a long time. Its role in Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a choice.
Farming and Ranching
A Legal Settlement Will Usher In a Wilder Point Reyes
Most cattle will leave, and an ambitious plan aims to restore coastal scrub, grasslands, and chaparral. But the agreement immediately drew fire from community members, who decry the loss of working ranches and farmworkers.
Summer Issue 2023
The Rewilding of California’s Parched Central Valley
As SGMA deadlines loom, groundwater sustainability agencies, environmental organizations, and farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are scrambling to prepare for a drier future by experimenting with ways to repurpose fallow farmland.
Nature News
Home on the Range
This story originally appeared in bioGraphic, an online magazine about nature and sustainability powered by the California Academy of Sciences. Photographs by Sarah Killingsworth Point Reyes sits at the western edge of Marin County, California, a pick-axe shaped peninsula that juts … Read more
Perspective
Point Reyes: Planning or Performance
The ongoing controversy regarding the future management of Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) encompasses the environment, historical preservation, the public will, and more. The National Park Service (NPS) was sued by three environmental groups in February of 2016, and in … Read more
Parks
A New Plan for Ranching at Point Reyes and What it Means for the Future of the Seashore
Is commercial agriculture part of Point Reyes National Seashore’s essential character?
Farming and Ranching, Wildlife
Point Reyes Elk Test Positive for Disease
A potentially fatal bacterial disease has been found among a free-roaming tule elk herd at Point Reyes National Seashore, raising concerns about the close proximity of wildlife to cattle on national parkland.
Fall Issue 2015
On the Fence
The recovery of the nearly extinct Tule Elk has become a dilemma for the park service, ranchers, and environmentalists at Point Reyes.
Farming and Ranching
Letter: George Wuerthner Responds to Sheila Barry
An ecologist argues that endorsing the benefits of livestock ignores the many negative impacts cows have on water quality, wildlife, plant communities, soils, and ecosystems.
