Friday, May 06, 2016

Lawsuit Brings Out Environmentalists on Both Sides of Debate Over Cattle Ranching at Point Reyes

The Point Reyes National Seashore is at the center of another bitter legal battle. Two years ago the fight was over an oyster farm. Now it’s over cattle, and the future of the cattle-ranching families who call Point Reyes home. Bill Niman may be the most famous rancher in the Bay Area. His Niman Ranch was founded in the 1970’s on land that’s now part of the Point Reyes National Seashore. (The seashore was founded in 1962, and Niman’s land was later added to the park.)“Actually if you could fly, we’re eight miles from San Francisco,” he says. Cattle have grazed Point Reyes since the 1800s, and many ranching families go back generations. But livestock is now at the center of a heated dispute - with environmentalists speaking out on both sides. “No impacts of ranching have ever been conducted in the national seashore,” says Chance Cutrano, director of special projects and strategic initiatives at Mill Valley-based Resource Renewal Institute. The Institute and two other environmental groups - the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Projects - are suing the National Park Service...more

No comments: