Point Reyes ranch plan options get public airing

Cattle graze along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near Historic Ranch B on the grounds of Point Reyes National Park and Seashore in Point Reyes Station. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

Offering 20-year leases to ranchers in the Point Reyes National Seashore is among the alternatives National Park Service officials will consider as they look at addressing the future of agriculture in West Marin. A 30-day comment period on the alternatives will run through Nov. 15, with public hearings set for Point Reyes and Sausalito next week. Looking to provide West Marin ranchers with more security and opportunity, the park service was in the middle of a planning process for working beef cattle and dairy ranches spread over 28,000 acres within the Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Longer leases for ranchers was the cornerstone of the plan, dubbed the “Ranch Comprehensive Management Plan/Environmental Assessment.” But a lawsuit was filed in February 2016 to stop the process. That lawsuit — filed by environmentalists — was resolved this summer and requires the park service to evaluate no-ranching, no-dairy-ranching and reduced-ranching alternatives as part of the management plan. “We have put together a range of options,” said Melanie Gunn, parks spokeswoman. “We are now sharing those with the public to see what they think.”...more