Nature Conservancy secured $10 million grant before finalizing Point Reyes ranch takeover; ranchers kept in the dark
Ranchers pushed out, NGO paid out.
An environmental group taking over 12 historic agricultural leases on California’s Point Reyes has secured a $10 government grant to “restore” the land—and it appears The Nature Conservancy started lobbying for this money well before the controversial deal was secured.
According to reporting in The Press Democrat, the money was earmarked in the state budget six months before the Point Reyes buyout, but the ranchers on Point Reyes were not told the funding was available.
“It’s shocking to me,” rancher Kevin Lunny told the paper. “All I know is when (the Nature Conservancy) appropriated this money, it was far from being settled.”
The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit organization that owns and manages the largest network of private conservation land in the United States, will be taking over much of Point Reyes National Seashore, assuming land vacated by 12 historic ranches and the 11 multi-generational farm families that have managed them for decades.
When it was announced in January, the decision led to national outrage, with many accusing the National Park Service (NPS) of working behind the scenes with green groups to force ranchers out. Journalist Chris Bray revealed internal emails showing NPS employees celebrating the buyout. But NPS insists it was merely a neutral third party.
But, in what looks like more government collusion, The Nature Conservancy is now set to receive millions in taxpayer dollars to “modernize the fencing and water infrastructure” on the former ranches. This funding will come from the state of California, though Point Reyes National Seashore is managed by NPS—a federal agency. State funding for national parks is rare.
All this after the ranchers say they were unable to update their own fencing and water systems for years thanks to the legal limbo created by constant lawsuits from radical environmental groups.
Dave Evans, the last rancher on Point Reyes because he did not choose to enter negotiations with his neighbors, says he has been barred from making needed updates, and NPS has refused to work with him. He believes his days on Point Reyes are numbered.
“They purposefully gave me a future there that was very meager and unsustainable.”
After years of lawsuits from environmental groups claiming the ranchers were polluting the land and causing environmental damage with their grazing operations, The Nature Conservancy stepped in, ostensibly to broker talks between green groups and the beleaguered farm families. After months of secretive settlement negotiations, The Nature Conservancy announced it had reached an agreement to buy out the ranch leases and take over much of the land on Point Reyes. The ranchers are still bound by strict NDAs and unable to freely discuss the decision.
Congressman Jared Huffman was instrumental in bringing The Nature Conservancy into these talks. Leaders at The Nature Conservancy also told The Press Democrat Huffman pushed for the state funding.
“I know Huffman was a champion of it,” said Michael Bell, a director at The Nature Conservancy, regarding state funds for restoration efforts.
Rodd Kelsey, another director at the organization, claimed Huffman was a “champion of the project.”
Lunny accuses The Nature Conservancy of “hiding their hand” in negotiations by working behind the scenes to secure this funding, which he says ranchers were not told about.
“I think it would have been a key piece to discuss this with the people appropriating the money and asking how it could be used. Because, part of (the plaintiffs’) claims were air quality problems or water quality problems,” he told The Press Democrat. “If we could have used those dollars to address some of their concerns, that $10 million could go a long way with making improvements if somebody needed a manure separator and some fencing around riparian zones.”
The Nature Conservancy, which generates over a billion dollars annually, has plans to continue a grazing program on Point Reyes.
“When you pull back the curtain, you start to maybe understand a little bit more about what happened,” Lunny said. “Once this was approved, it should have been made known to everyone in mediation that there are two ways to use $10 million—one is if we leave, and one is if we don’t leave, and that didn’t happen.”
An anonymous source with knowledge says she believes NPS works with non-profit groups to achieve its radical environmental goals. She says these entities use litigation to squeeze ranchers and farmers until they are forced to comply.
“These non-profit groups all seem to have a playbook,” she says. “They find vulnerable people who can’t afford ongoing litigation—ranchers, farmers, developers—and attack them. They sue with the goal of forcing them off the land, knowing the ranchers can’t fight back. The ranchers can’t do infrastructure repairs. They face extreme pressure. These groups have unlimited money. After they force the victim to settle and leave, they take massive amounts of taxpayer-funded settlement money.”
Evans agrees.
“I can’t help but think the green groups achieved what they achieved through capitulation from the Park Service, and that needs to be weeded out. It’s collusion, it’s conspiracy, and it’s illegal.”
Earlier this year, the House Committee on Natural Resources, currently run by Republicans, launched an investigation into the ranch closures on Point Reyes. Whatever they find, it may come too late to save the legacy ranchers who have already begun their slow exodus off of Point Reyes.
Keep uncovering and exposing the truth regarding this heinous scam.
We need to protect our ranchers. Not screw them out of their land!