Thursday, April 07, 2016

Marin officials fight attempt to oust ranchers from National Seashore

Marin County officials are rallying to support ranchers in the fight against a lawsuit they think would end cattle and dairy operations in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Rep. Jared Huffman joined county supervisors in backing continued ranching activity in the national parkland, an enterprise federal officials promised could continue when families who had farmed the land for generations sold their holdings for inclusion in the park decades ago. After meeting in closed session, the board announced the county will join the National Park Service in the legal fight to oppose the lawsuit. Just a year after an oyster farming operation was booted from the seashore amid heated controversy, three environmental groups have taken aim at ranching, saying park officials must update a management plan and conduct an environmental analysis before extending cattle grazing rights. Ranchers fear the lawsuit will doom their leases. Some observers fear an end to ranching in the seashore would erode the farming economy in West Marin, perhaps leading to residential development of vacant farmland parcels. Huffman and the county board sided squarely with the ranching community Tuesday as a crowd gathered at the Civic Center to boost farming as usual on coastal parkland...more 

Time after time we see this.  The enviros say, "ranching can continue", and then when they get the designation they want (Wilderness, National Monument, National Conservation Area, etc.) they use every administrative and judicial tool available to run them off.   Anyone who believes them is a fool and any politician mouthing the same line speaks with a forked tongue.

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