According to The Nature Conservancy’s own website, “We carry out our work with a deep commitment to accountability and transparency … We want you and every member of the public to know as much as possible about how The Nature Conservancy (TNC) operates and how carefully and effectively we use your donations.”
The irony was at narcissistic levels when news broke earlier in the month on a $10 million grant from the state of California to TNC long before the settlement was reached that displaced 11 ranching and farming families on the Point Reyes National Seashore. The state’s Wildlife Conservation Board is issuing the funding to the group in the name of restoration, fencing and water infrastructure projects. Remember that TNC brokered the closed-door talks at just over $30 million for the multi-generational families to exit Point Reyes and turn their leases over to TNC management. TNC was awarded the park’s current grazing land in a five-year lease with an option to add a 20-year term, with two additional 10-year term options to follow, adding up to 45 years total lease option in the deal.
Details are continuing to come forward, but as of this writing, the state of California committed $10 million taxpayer dollars to the management of federal parks, but TNC was already lobbying for the funds before a deal with the ranchers was met. According to an article published by The Press Democrat, the money was added to the state budget in June 2024, which happens to be six months before TNC signed the deal with ranchers to shut down their operations and turn over their leases from the state park. TNC also secured an additional $1 million from the Department of the Interior to “to help with restoration” at Point Reyes.
Kevin Lunny, rancher and past president of the Point Reyes Seashore Ranchers Association, told the publication, “All I know is when they appropriated this money, it was far from being settled … It’s shocking to me.” Lunny already vacated his operation and moved to Auburn, CA, last May.
For over a decade, the ranching families on Point Reyes were under attack from several environmental groups through regulation and legislation. By making life so much harder for these families, environmental groups continued to essentially shake down these families and give them the only chance to make it out economically through this brokered deal. By requiring added infrastructure and environmental hoops to jump through, ranching on Point Reyes had become difficult as it was, but now finding out that these tax-paying ranchers had tax-paying dollars set aside to make the deal even stronger for TNC is a slap in the face for all of agriculture.
In an article by American Unwon, they quote Dave Evans, who is the last rancher on Point Reyes because he refused to enter the negotiations and turn over his leases and operation. He says the National Park Service (NPS), which oversees the ground leased by the ranchers, made it difficult to work on his operation. The $10 million granted to TNC is earmarked to “modernize the fencing and water infrastructure.” Evans claims the NPS barred him from making needed updates on their fencing and water systems during the yearslong lawsuits from environmental groups.
“They purposely gave me a future there that was very meager and unsustainable,” he said in the article. This is the underlying issue that needs to be brought to light more and more. I remember the morning I received the news that Harris Feeding Co. in Coalinga, CA, had 14 trucks lit on fire in 2012. That wasn’t that long ago. At the time, though, it was amid a string of physical attacks on agricultural facilities. That was the way to activism. Protests, undercover videoing, and acts of violence were the main methods. Today, and while some of this still happens, activism has taken on a whole new identity. Under the guise of environmental activism, organizations are attacking agriculture by way of paper and politics. Activism is now a business—a very, very large business.
By paper, I mean legislation, regulation and money. Heavy financing continues to pour millions into activism under the pretenses of climate change, carbon footprinting and rewilding. These groups are placing in office politicians that lean to their interests and are lobbied with millions of dollars to work with. For example, in the case with Point Reyes, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) was the politician pushing much of the agenda. Ironically, when The Press Democrat reached out for comment, he was unavailable.
In the article by American Unwon, an anonymous source told the publication, “These non-profit groups all seem to have a playbook … 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.”
It’s going to be our future battles that will take place in the courtroom, and in the voting booth. We’ve seen it in multiple states in multiple situations; just ask the Hammonds who were called terrorists at one point and served time. As ranchers, we have to be on the lookout for this threat at all times. — LOGAN IPSEN
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