Deadline nears for closure of West Marin ranches and dairies

A group of ranches and dairies in the Point Reyes National Seashore has about two months left to close down under an agreement with the Nature Conservancy.

The federal park announced on Jan. 8, 2025, that six dairies and six beef ranches operating there would cease operations within 15 months following a confidential legal settlement with environmental organizations that had long sought to ban agricultural uses of the park.

It was estimated at the time that some 90 people lived on the properties, mostly Latino workers, and some undocumented.

Marlene Cardozo, marketing manager for the Nature Conservancy, said two beef ranches — G Ranch, operated by Kevin Lunny, and F Ranch, operated by Tim Gallagher — have completed their closures and been paid. Cardozo said another dairy included in the agreement, I Ranch, operated by Robert McClure, also has ceased operations.

The conservancy has declined to reveal how much the agricultural operations are being paid to close down.

Cardozo added that all milking operations have ceased, and some beef and non-lactating dairy cattle are still grazing.

“Ranching families have until early April to wind down,” Cardozo said in an email. “There are still people living at Point Reyes National Seashore: farmworker and tenant households have until the end of February to move off and receive payment via TNC’s Transition Support Plan.”

The Nature Conservancy has committed to paying every household being displaced from the federal park the equivalent of 18 months of fair market rent. In practice, that amounts to between $70,000 and $100,000 per household.

Cardozo said 24 households have received 10% advance payments, while nine have moved and received full payments.

The organization won’t pay the remaining 90% until after a household has left the federal land. In order to receive the final payment, households have to leave by Feb. 2.

Last February, Andrew Giacomini, a West Marin lawyer representing people who live on the ranches and dairies, filed a complaint in federal court alleging that the National Park Service conspired with the Nature Conservancy to pay off the departing ranchers. In exchange, the ranchers relinquished their rights to 20-year leases and leased their properties to the conservancy, the suit said.

In April, Republican members of the House Committee on Natural Resources launched an investigation.

“I have no new news on Washington,” Giacomini said in an email. “Our lawsuit against the National Park Service and TNC seeking to preserve the much needed housing remains pending.

“I know things are tough for our clients,” he said. “Some ranches have shut down and others are soon to shut down. There is a lot of uncertainty and people are scared.”

Anne-Marie Flynn, executive director of West Marin Community Services, which is distributing the Nature Conservancy payments to people living on the farms and ranches, said 17 households remain on the land, accounting for about 54 people.

Flynn said most of the people who moved off the ranches were employees. Some have relocated to Petaluma and found jobs in agriculture, while others “are really struggling now.”

“Some of them did have a second person who was earning income in the family, but they’ve lost at least half if not more of their income,” she said. “Most of them weren’t paying for their housing.”

Flynn said the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin, known as CLAM, has secured housing in Point Reyes Station for one household. Two more households are participating in a new program organized by Marin County and the West Marin Fund to match displaced households with property owners willing to house them for up to two years.

Marin County supervisors have allocated $2.5 million to help create a shelter in Point Reyes Station for families being evicted from the federal park as well as other residents in substandard housing. The project will be overseen by CLAM.

About half of the county’s expenditure will help pay for tiny homes for the site and improvements such as wastewater treatment, parking, paths, decks and fencing.

“It just depends on the weather how fast it can be completed,” Flynn said.

Jasmine Bravo, a representative of Voices of Las Familias Afectadas de Rancho de Point Reyes National Seashore, said, “Most of the CLAM housing is not going to be available before our eviction date. Families who are remaining in the seashore are definitely worried that they will not be finding housing in West Marin.”

Bravo lives on I Ranch, where a majority of the households remaining in the federal park live, with her mother and two siblings.

Joe Deviney, the county agricultural commissioner, said that so far none of the farms or ranches leaving the federal land has found a new location in Marin County.

On Dec. 12, the county opened an application period for a $1 million dairy transition assistance program. U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman secured the money through a federal earmark in 2024. It’s unclear, however, how useful it will be to ranchers seeking to relocate.

“This particular funding is only for Natural Resources Conservation Service-type of activities,” Deviney said. “It’s not for buying land or building a milk parlor. It’s not that kind of money.”

Deviney said the county has received no applications to participate in the program.

The Nature Conservancy has begun accepting applications for a targeted-grazing contract for about 2,000 acres that were formerly worked by the departing F and G ranches. The conservancy says the goal is to reduce an invasive plant known as purple velvet grass.

“Ranchers who loved and cared for the land so it would be there for the next generation are to be replaced by ranchers whose sole interest in hauling cattle in to graze is to make a buck,” said Judy Teichman, a Point Reyes Station attorney who has been critical of the ranch closures.