Nature Conservancy secured $10 million grant before finalizing Point Reyes ranch takeover; ranchers kept in the dark

An environmental group taking over 12 historic agricultural leases on California’s Point Reyes has obtained a $10 million government grant to “restore” the land—and it appears The Nature Conservancy secured this money well before finalizing the deal.

According to reporting by The Press Democrat, funds for Point Reyes restoration were earmarked in the state budget six months before the buyout, but ranchers were not told about it.

“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—an organization that owns and manages the largest network of private, conserved land in the United States—will be taking over much of Point Reyes National Seashore, assuming land vacated by 11 multi-generational farm families.

Some accused the National Park Service (NPS) of working covertly with green groups to force ranchers out. Journalist Chris Bray revealed internal emails in which NPS employees appeared to celebrate the ranchers’ exit. NPS insists it was a neutral third party.

Now, in what agriculture advocates are calling more government collusion, The Nature Conservancy is set to receive millions of taxpayer dollars to “modernize the fencing and water infrastructure” on the former ranches. This funding will come from the state of California, though NPS is a federal agency. State funding for national parks is rare.

All this after the Point Reyes ranchers say they were unable to update their own fencing and water systems during the years-long 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 is refusing 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.”

Congressman Huffman a “champion” of The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy initially stepped in to broker talks after repeated lawsuits led to a stalemate. Green groups like Western Watersheds and the Center for Biological Diversity accused the beleaguered farm families on Point Reyes of polluting the land and causing environmental damage with their grazing operations.

Then, after months of secretive settlement negotiations, The Nature Conservancy announced it would 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 Nature Conservancy, said Huffman was a “champion of the project.”

Rancher accuses Nature Conservancy of “hiding their hand”

Lunny accuses The Nature Conservancy of “hiding their hand” in negotiations by failing to disclose efforts to secure state funding. If the Point Reyes ranchers had known about this funding, Lunny says, they may have never agreed to the buyout.

“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 generates over a billion dollars annually. They plan 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.”

Is the Park Service colluding with NGOs against ranchers?

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.”

He says the depiction of these buyouts as voluntary is misleading.

“They were shown an impossible lease and an impossible circumstance with no future and then offered a buyout,” he says of his neighbors. “To call something voluntary when there was no other option is a little disingenuous if you ask me.”

Earlier this year, the House Committee on Natural Resources, run by Republicans, launched an investigation into the ranch closures on Point Reyes. Whatever the result of their inquiry, it may come too late to save the legacy ranchers who have already begun their exodus off Point Reyes.

-Reprinted with permission from UNWON