The founder of Niman Ranch, William Niman, and his wife, Nicolette Hahn Niman, have filed suit against the National Park Service (NPS) for its settlement with local ranchers to effectively stop livestock operations on California’s Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Nimans filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Feb. 25.
Earlier this year, a dozen livestock producers agreed to private settlements to halt beef and dairy cattle ranching on the seashore following conflicts with environmental groups. Under the settlements’ terms, six beef ranches and six dairies agreed to cease operations within 15 months in exchange for compensation from The Nature Conservancy. In a separate settlement, the NPS issued a new record of decision (ROD) to establish the previously designated pastoral zone as a “scenic landscape” zone.
In court documents, Niman and Hahn Niman said the seashore was established to preserve the peninsula’s ranching and agricultural heritage and specifically authorized continued operations even if the original ranchers and farmers decided to leave.
NPS and the Department of the Interior “however, have refused to consider allowing farming and ranching to continue in Point Reyes on the lands previously worked by the farmers and ranchers who recently decided to leave,” the suit said. Failing to consider allowing farming and ranching to continue is in violation of the law, the suit continued, and will cause significant and irreparable harm to the agricultural heritage, the environment, the community, the regional food supply and the health of the nation.
The couple said they have spent years working to protect sustainable and responsible ranching in the seashore, whether practiced by themselves or others. “Plaintiffs’ interest in sustainable and responsible ranching and agriculture, whether practiced by themselves or by others, is directly harmed by the decisions challenged in this complaint,” the suit said.
The suit asks the court to set aside the NPS’ 2025 record of decision and order the government to analyze the alternatives of leasing ag lands in Point Reyes to other farmers and ranchers, along with developing a management plan for tule elk.
Background
Niman and Hahn Niman raise grassfed cattle and heritage breed chickens in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Niman founded the sustainable meat company Niman Ranch in the ’70s but left in 2007 and is also co-founder of a grassfed beef and pasture-raised poultry company. Hahn Niman previously worked as the senior attorney for the Waterkeeper Alliance where she led the group’s campaign to reform the livestock industry.
The ranching couple was not party to the settlement negotiations with The Nature Conservancy.
When NPS released its 2020 draft environmental impact statement (EIS) reviewing six alternatives on the seashore’s management, none of the alternatives studied leasing lands within the seashore for agricultural or ranching purposes to people other than those currently farming or ranching the lands, the suit said. The Nimans submitted comments in support of continuing agriculture.
“Ranches are equally important to this region’s environment; animal impact is essential to ecosystem function,” the Nimans wrote in their comments. “We urge that the General Management Plan Amendment reflect a National Park Service commitment to the long-term continuation and support of the Seashores ranches. Remember, It’s not the COW, it’s the HOW.”
NPS issued a ROD in 2021 that updated the seashore’s plan to authorize ranching for at least the next 20 years, and potentially longer, by the existing ranching families on the seashore.
Shortly after, in 2022, environmental groups filed suit against the decision, saying the park service prioritized ranchers over the environment and the public’s use of the seashore. The Nimans were not parties to the lawsuit.
In January of this year, all of the ranchers except the Nimans and one other family entered into private settlements with The Nature Conservancy to leave by 2026. NPS also entered into an agreement to settle the litigation brought by environmental groups in 2022. The agency approved a new decision to replace the 2021 ROD, which would redesignate the lands ranched by the departing ranchers in the pastoral zone as a new “scenic landscape” zone where ranching or other agricultural activities would not be allowed.
The 2025 ROD did not propose to offer the lands ranched by the departing ranchers for lease and did not select any of the alternatives considered in the 2020 EIS, the suit said. NPS also did not conduct any further environmental review in support of the new ROD, and did not study the alternatives of leasing the lands to others for ag operations. A public comment period was also not offered on the 2025 decision.
“The 2025 ROD affects the Nimans’ interests. The 2025 ROD will only allow the Nimans to continue operating if they enter into new ‘Ranch Operating Agreements’ (ROAs) that are required to contain restrictions that the Nimans were not consulted on and to which they object,” the suit said.
The couple cited the example of ROAs containing restrictions on the number of animals at levels they said will make continued ranching economically difficult if not entirely nonviable. The ROAs also contain restrictions on composting and cover cropping that will make regenerative agriculture practices difficult, if not entirely impossible, the suit said.
In addition, the 2025 ROD “contains no real management plan for tule elk in Point Reyes,” the suit continued. If ranching is “to survive in the Seashore, and on the Nimans’ ranch, tule elk need to be properly managed.”
The government does not comment on pending litigation.
— Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
