The latest development in the ongoing story of a 2-mile barrier, which environmentalists have dubbed the “ungulate Berlin Wall,” is perceived by ranchers as an escalation in efforts to displace them from the park. The National Park Service conceded in court on Friday to refrain from dismantling the fence in Point Reyes National Seashore that […]
The latest development in the ongoing story of a 2-mile barrier, which environmentalists have dubbed the “ungulate Berlin Wall,” is perceived by ranchers as an escalation in efforts to displace them from the park.
The National Park Service conceded in court on Friday to refrain from dismantling the fence in Point Reyes National Seashore that divides several hundred tule elk from neighboring dairy operations and ranches, yielding for the time being to a last-minute legal challenge from ranchers.
This is the latest development in the ongoing narrative surrounding an 8-foot-tall fence that environmentalists refer to as the “ungulate Berlin Wall,” while ranchers regard it as the next phase in a continuous effort to remove them from the park.
“It’s a win for what it’s worth,” stated seashore rancher Kevin Lunny regarding the court session on Friday.
During the proceedings in U.S. District Court presided over by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco, the attorneys for the federal government consented to cease the fence removal, which had begun on Tuesday morning, just a day after park officials decided to dismantle the nearly 50-year-old structure, concluding several years of public feedback and environmental evaluation.
“That is actually absolutely the sensible action to take,” Corley remarked to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Keough, who willingly agreed to pause the fence dismantling immediately. “I mean, that just makes total sense in the circumstances.”
The ranchers and farmers of the seashore, who work on approximately 18,000 leased acres within the public park, oppose the fence’s removal due to concerns over greater repercussions on their stored feed, pastures, water troughs, and fencing necessary for raising their livestock.
San Francisco lawyer Tony Francois, who initiated a preliminary injunction on Tuesday and a temporary restraining order on Wednesday for the California Cattlemen’s Association and its member ranches on the West Marin peninsula, expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
“We regard it as a positive day,” he commented. “And it suggests that someone at the Park Service recognizes that, like the saying goes about asking for forgiveness rather than permission, they should have approached this in a more transparent way.”
Currently, it leaves an opening nearly the size of three football fields where the seashore’s largest elk herd can move freely from the 2,900-acre reserve that housed them at the northern end of Tomales Point onto adjacent farms and ranches in the seashore.
After a small herd of previously endangered tule elk were moved to Tomales Point in 1978, their population increased over the years. However, several hundred elk perished during the severe droughts from 2013-2015 and 2020-2022, prompting a park reassessment of the 2-mile fence and their contained habitat.
Addressing the situation of a now-incomplete fence, California Cattlemen’s Association attorney Peter Prows requested during the hearing that the park retrieve any elk that had recently crossed the open fence line, referencing the park’s earlier amendment to the general management plan concerning any elk wandering outside the reserve.
“We’re simply urging the Park Service to follow through on what it had already determined to do,” Prows stated. “The Park Service in 2021 did not see any practical issues in returning elk from the Tomales Point area that managed to enter the pastoral zone back to the Tomales Point area. And we’re merely asking it to adhere to its original decision.”
However, Judge Corley abstained from ruling on that issue, indicating that the request for a temporary restraining order only pertained to halting the fence’s removal, not the relocation of elk back to the reserve.
Despite this recent ruling, Jeff Miller and other experienced environmentalists closely monitoring the case anticipate that the park service will ultimately succeed in court.
“The Park Service underwent a formal environmental review process regarding the fence’s removal, and received an unprecedented volume of public comments, predominantly endorsing the dismantling of the elk-harming barrier,” remarked Miller, a senior conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re assured that the court will affirm that the review was legal and in line with park regulations, allowing for the removal of the ungulate Berlin Wall and the restoration of Tomales Point to proceed.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is among three environmental organizations that litigated against the National Park Service in 2022, contesting the park’s general management plan and the rights of ranchers to maintain agricultural activities within the park. The litigation has been in mediation since June 2022, with The Nature Conservancy joining the confidential discussions earlier this year that some analysts speculate may lead to the gradual elimination of the four remaining dairies and 17 cattle ranches within the seashore.
An attorney representing numerous farmworker families residing on Point Reyes ranches has sought to intervene in this matter, but no decision has been made. The next hearing is expected on January 10.
Francois believes that the subsequent hearing to consider a preliminary injunction regarding the elk fence situation will likely occur in mid-February. In the meantime, wandering elk will have the freedom to come and go through the 850-foot gap.
“We have concerns about elk crossing that section of the fence while it remains down,” he noted. “In the upcoming preliminary injunction proceedings, we will request the court to instruct them to restore the fence. Moreover, we will seek to ensure that the Park Service does not take measures to direct elk from Tomales Point toward that breach in the fence.”
You can contact John Beck at john@beckmediaproductions.com.
