Follow founder’s words, do what is right for Point Reyes
One year ago, the environmental movement lost a legend with the death of Huey Johnson.
Johnson had a 60-year career as an environmental leader and innovator. His integrity and persistence left a tremendous legacy and stands as a guidepost for getting things done for the environment.
At Resource Renewal Institute, the nonprofit Johnson founded in Marin 35 years ago, his spirit and lessons are an ongoing source of inspiration. Sorting through some old files, I came upon a letter from former Gov. Jerry Brown, who appointed Johnson as California secretary of resources. In it, Brown quotes Johnson who, he says, imparted to him an important political lesson.
“When it comes to the environment, it’s not enough to do what works — you have to do what is right,” Johnson said.
Over time, much of the world has come around to Johnson’s vision of “what is right.” He received the United Nations Sasakawa Award in 2004, and the greater nonprofit and business community is finally moving toward his holistic approach to climate change — rebuilding degraded areas to improve habitat for wildlife, protecting our soils and watersheds and supporting economic resiliency — all while slashing greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid the most dangerous impacts of our changing climate.
I recall the morning in 2015 when Johnson learned of the death of more than 250 tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore, where the largest tule elk herd in the world is confined behind an 8-foot fence to block them from pastures the National Park Service leases to private cattle operators. He slammed his fist hard down on his desk. “This is not right,” he declared.
Johnson’s declaration set our organization on a course to change the National Park Service’s park policies starting with Point Reyes — to demand the preservation of the park’s natural resources, wildlife and scenic beauty — unimpaired for future generations, as Congress intended when the national seashore was enacted 60 years ago.
In 2016, Resource Renewal Institute, the Western Watersheds
Project and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit over the inhumane wildlife policies that have since claimed hundreds more of the park’s rare elk. The resulting legal settlement required the park service to amend its outdated general management plan and conduct the first environmental review of the impacts of ranching at Point Reyes.
Despite documented environmental damage, public opposition, worsening drought and increasing risk of wildfires due to climate change, the park service has proposed a plan that expands livestock, adds commercial crops and eliminates native wildlife and habitat, even as conditions at Point Reyes continue to deteriorate.
The largest and oldest dairy ranch in the park recently announced it will close, citing the fear of running out of water and falling prices for milk. The California Coastal Commission has required the National Park Service to address the dangerous levels of water pollution from cattle waste, ongoing drought conditions and impacts of climate change prior to issuing any leases to the ranchers.
There has been a groundswell of opposition to continued ranching and killing of tule elk, as ranchers demand. A diverse coalition of local and national organizations have joined forces to advocate for the park’s restoration.
Thousands of concerned individuals, including scientists and park users, as well as animal rights and environmental justice advocates, have submitted comments, sent letters, signed petitions and staged protests in opposition to the park service’s misguided plan.
The public is demanding change. We will not accept a plan that sacrifices our land, water, wildlife, access, use and enjoyment of our park to commercial ranching.
The Department of Interior will soon determine whether or not to approve the National Park Service’s preferred plan — Alternative B — to perpetuate private ranching for at least 20 more years. RRI joins millions of Americans and more than 100 conservation organizations in asking the secretary of the interior to instead adopt Alternate F, the one alternative that calls for restoring Point Reyes for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
The time has come for the park to truly be a park. Let’s begin to reclaim our park and restore Point Reyes National Seashore for all future generations. As Johnson would say, it’s the right thing to do.
Despite documented environmental damage, public opposition, worsening drought and increasing risk of wildfires due to climate change, the park service has proposed a plan that expands livestock, adds commercial crops and eliminates native wildlife and habitat, even as conditions at Point Reyes continue to deteriorate.