MEDIA RELEASE: Ranchers Sue NPS for Decision to Free Tule Elk
Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. (Dec. 6, 2024) — In a pivotal week for environmental conservation, the National Park Service (NPS) announced its final decision to dismantle the 8-foot-tall boundary fence confining the largest Tule elk herd at Point Reyes National Seashore. The decision, announced in an NPS press release on December 2, marks the culmination of a hard-fought campaign by animal protection organizations, including In Defense of Animals. However, the California Cattlemen’s Association filed a lawsuit just two days later attempting to halt this progress.
The 2.2-mile fence, built in 1978, has caused the slow and agonizing deaths of hundreds of Tule elk, preventing them from accessing adequate forage and water during droughts. The NPS immediately started dismantling by chainsawing 8-foot-tall fence posts and carting off the woven wire fence on December 3 and 4, only to be met with a filing of a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) by the California Cattlemen’s Association. On December 6, San Francisco District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) but declined to require the reconstruction of 850 ft. of removed fencing, leaving an opening for elk to begin reclaiming their natural range.
“We are grateful to the NPS for taking this critical step to free the Tule elk, who have endured immense suffering behind this lethal fence for decades,” said Lisa Levinson, Campaigns Director at In Defense of Animals. “This decision begins to restore public trust in the agency’s ability to prioritize wild animals over private profit in a national park. Meanwhile, the actions of ranchers — paid hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to leave decades ago — are clinging to their cash cows and fighting tooth and nail to continue exploiting Point Reyes’ ecosystems, animals, and workers. Let there be no doubt: so-called ‘small, organic, family farms’ bear the responsibility for this kind of devastation not just in this national park unit, but across the country.”
Ranchers claim the threatened, native species graze their land, yet fail to address the massive ecological damage caused by their own operations. Approximately 4,500 cows in the park violate the Clean Water Act and California state and Marin County regulations by polluting streams and lagoons with manure. They also trample native vegetation to dirt and mud and emit massive amounts of greenhouse gas. Ranchers generate approximately 220 lbs. of methane (CH4) per cow yearly — a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO2 at absorbing atmospheric heat. Additionally, Johne's — a wasting cattle disease rampant in the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on the park’s organic ranches — has spread to the elk population, exacerbating their plight.
The fence removal decision follows years of unrelenting advocacy, led by In Defense of Animals and supported by thousands of activists and concerned citizens. Public outcry and legal action forced the NPS to reevaluate its practices, resulting in this landmark decision under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).
Recently-appointed Point Reyes Superintendent Anne Altman said in a press release announcing the decision, “The benefit of removing this enclosure is to allow elk to access additional habitat, increase the species’ population resilience during drought, and promote a more natural population cycle.”
Activist Jack Gescheidt, Tule Elk Campaigner for In Defense of Animals, cautions serious challenges remain, in addition to the Cattlemens’ suit.
“This decision is a testament to the power of local activism, but there are still many challenges before Tule elk can enjoy a walk in the park. With a pro-ranching administration set to take power in January, we must ensure years of progress isn’t undone.”
“And if the fence is fully dismantled,” Gescheidt continued, “the Tule elk will have to negotiate 300 miles of barbed-wire farm fences and face new dangers from ranch pollution. The small, local, family-owned, organic cattle operations are filthy with excessive manure; every day they dump massive amounts of cow poop onto the land, which washes into streams and lagoons and the Pacific Ocean. Point Reyes wildlife — and human visitors — are being poisoned every day. Finally, if they survive that, the NPS has rules allowing them to shoot the park’s wild Tule elk to death if they are deemed troublesome to the beef and dairy ranchers.”
The NPS’ newly approved management plan also includes calls for removal of the temporary water systems to support elk during droughts which were reluctantly installed after numerous activist demonstrations publicly shamed them into doing so. Activists are urging the tanks and troughs be left in place for now, since Tule elk in territories miles north of the Reserve fenceline, may not learn any section or all of their prison fence has been removed.
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Contact: Jack Gescheidt, jackg@idausa.org, (415) 488-4200
National Park Service Tomales Point Area Plan
In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization based in California with over 250,000 supporters and a history of fighting for animals, people, and the environment through education and campaigns, as well as hands-on rescue facilities in California, India, South Korea, and rural Mississippi since 1983. www.idausa.org/elk
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