Republicans in Congress launched an investigation on Thursday into a settlement agreement that will require 12 of the 14 ranches and dairies operating in the Point Reyes National Seashore to cease operations in early 2026.
The House Committee on Natural Resources sent letters to the Nature Conservancy and four other environmental organizations, all of which were parties to the agreement, seeking detailed information. The committee is headed by Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas. The letters were signed by six other Republican members of Congress.
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The letter sent to the Nature Conservancy stated, “The Committee is concerned not only with the lack of transparency surrounding the settlement but also with the environmental and legal consequences the settlement may impose.”
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Rep. Jared Huffman who is the ranking Democrat on the Committee, said he was not notified in advance of the letter being dispatched on Thursday. The San Rafael lawmaker said that since the Department of Interior was also a party to the settlement, it could be reversed by the Trump administration.
“If the park service, and this is the Trump administration’s park service, wanted to revoke this or blow it all up,” Huffman said, “they could.”
As part of the agreement, the environmental organizations agreed to drop a lawsuit challenging the continued use of the park for agriculture in return for the park service denying the agricultural operators new leases.
The owners of the ranches and dairies were paid an undisclosed amount by the Nature Conservancy, and had to agree not to disclose the terms of the agreement. There have been unconfirmed reports the payments amounted to between $30 million and $40 million.
Huffman said that if the agricultural operators don’t want to take the money they could call off the deal.
“I’ve asked them straight up any number of ways; do you want this or not?” Huffman said. “They have all confirmed that this is indeed what they want. It is up to them, not to outside parties.”
In February, Andrew Giacomini, a prominent West Marin lawyer, filed a complaint in District Court alleging that the park service conspired with the Nature Conservancy to pay off the departing ranchers in exchange for the ranchers relinquishing their rights to 20-year leases and instead leasing the ranchers’ property to the conservancy.
Giacomini is representing people who live on the ranches and dairies that are going to be closed, all of whom face eviction. Most of the occupants are Latino, some but not all are agricultural workers who will also lose their jobs.
Giacomini had previously said he intended to seek support for his cause in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, however, he denied sparking the investigation by the House committee.
In an email, Giaomini said that he supported the congressional investigation of the secret settlement, which he views as unlawful, but added, “I had no role in that other than as a cheerleader for those who were pushing it.”
John Seibels, a spokesperson for the committee, said the committee doesn’t comment on the origin of investigations.
In its letter to the Nature Conservancy, the committee wrote, “Although producers participating in the buyout have publicly expressed hesitation to participate, they have been muzzled by non-disclosure agreements limiting what they are permitted to share.”
The letter also states that the committee has obtained documents that show that Nature Conservancy donors and environmental advocates have expressed displeasure with the settlement.
According to the letter, “These significant concerns include increased wildfire risk, decreased biodiversity, drastic shrinking of the local agricultural economy and housing loss for local agricultural workers.”
The Nature Conservancy was the only environmental group that responded to a request for comment. “We are reviewing the letter and will respond to the Committee,” wrote spokesperson Heather Gately.
She added that the Nature Conservancy “was asked by all of the litigating parties, including the ranchers, to join their mediation as an honest broker and help find a compromise to end the long-standing conflict.”
Last week, the heads of Straus Family Creamery, Clover Sonoma, and Organic West sent a letter to Huffman asking that the closure deadline be extended to allow more time for an effort to relocate the dairy farms within the North Bay.
“In the last decade we’ve lost 25 dairy farms in the North Bay milk shed, a place where 60% of the state’s organic milk is produced,” the letter stated. “Our three companies contract roughly 80% of the milk supply in the North Bay. Reversing the loss of local dairy farms is an urgent matter for our businesses and local farming industry.”
In April 2024, Huffman secured a $1 million federal earmark to be used to help relocate dairy farms. So far, none of that money has been spent.
The letter stated, “We are working with Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Sonoma Land Trust and Sonoma Ag and Open Space to identify farms in Sonoma and Marin that might work for these dairies.”
The executives wrote in their letter, however, that more time is needed for affected dairy farmers to identify, acquire, permit, modernize, fund, and start new dairy operations.
They stated that under the current deadline milking operations would actually have to stop by October 2025 to maintain manure management compliance under regional water quality control board regulations.
“These farmers need to decide by May whether or not to stop dairy farming permanently or try to relocate elsewhere,” the letter continued. “This is an untenable timeline.”
Huffman wrote in an email, “We are considering making a request to the settlement parties for a narrowly-tailored time extension that would not apply to all diaries and ranches; we would request it if and only if one or more of the dairies would want an extension in order to facilitate relocation elsewhere in the North Bay.”
Regarding the $1 million he secured toward relocation, Huffman added, “There have been some encouraging conversations with a few of the dairy families about staying in the North Bay and using the funds, and I’m optimistic that we’ll find a way to help at least one and potentially several dairy families do that.”
Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni wrote in an email, “It is important to understand that this letter did not come from the dairies still operating on the Point Reyes peninsula.”
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