Directing Secretary of the Interior to Manage Agricultural Property in Point Reyes National Seashore

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, this is a bill that is strongly bipartisan. It reaffirms congressional intent to continue to authorize sustainable, working dairies and ranches within a portion of the Point Reyes National Seashore. This is consistent with the seashore's historic, cultural, scenic, and natural values.

It also honors repeated Federal promises that the ranches and dairies in the Point Reyes National Seashore would be offered long-term permits so that they can have the certainty and the clarity they need to obtain financing, make family succession plans, and other decisions necessary to continue operations.

For over 150 years, agriculture has been a vital part of the fabric of West Marin, part of my district in northern California. This includes the historic ranches and dairies in the Point Reyes National Seashore and also some northern portions of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These ranches and dairies contribute to the unique history, character, and cultural heritage of these magnificent national park units.

The statutory history of Point Reyes reflects Congress' intent to continue ranching in the pastoral areas of the seashore to ensure that future generations could experience these working landscapes. We are reaffirming that intent with this bill.

I think the agricultural heritage of West Marin is worth protecting. The National Park Service agrees. Across Presidential administrations and since the creation of the seashore and the GGNRA, the Park Service has consistently supported continuation of the ranching heritage in these areas. Today, Congress is reaffirming longstanding policy and decades of diligent efforts by the Park Service.

We are also making good on a commitment Interior Secretary Salazar made in November of 2012 to provide long-term assurances for these ranchers and dairies. He specifically directed the Park Service to proceed with extending 20-year permits consistent with applicable laws and planning processes.

Toward that same end, this bill directs the issuance of 20-year leases and permits after completion by the Park Service of a robust general management plan update process, including public engagement and environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, which must include compliance with the Endangered Species Act and any other environmental reviews.

Through this planning and environmental review process, the Park Service will receive public comment, evaluate possible measures that could improve the environmental sustainability of the ranches and dairies, and ensure the good stewardship of the seashore's national resources.

The general management plan and the NEPA process will inform how the Park Service exercises its broad discretionary authority to set terms and conditions in the leases and the permits, and can develop critical strategies, actions, and policies on a wide range of issues involving land and natural resource management within the seashore.

As any visitor to Point Reyes knows, one of the unique features of the seashore is the successful return of the majestic tule elk. This legislation envisions a healthy coexistence of thriving elk herds and the historic ranches and dairies within the seashore through effective management.

It provides direction to the Park Service to manage for effective separation between tule elk and livestock in areas where growing elk herds have presented conflicts with working ranches and dairies, such as taking up permanent residence on dairies' critical organic pastureland, interfering with ranch operations, or damaging infrastructure, hardly the outcomes envisioned by the Park Service's 1998 elk management plan.

While providing this general policy guidance, the bill leaves broad discretion to the Park Service to determine how best to manage the elk. It leaves in place all existing tools, while adding a new opportunity to explore relocation and cultural ceremonial activities with interested Native American Tribes.

I am grateful for the broad public support that this bill has received, ranging from the Marin Conservation League to the Marin County Farm Bureau and the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

I also want to address, briefly, some misconceptions that a few of the bill's critics have raised.

First, nothing in this bill elevates ranching above other uses of the seashore. It specifically does not amend the purpose section of the enabling act, which means that operations of the ranches and dairies will remain consistent with the policies and legal requirements that govern the Interior Department's stewardship of the land.

It is important to remember that less than one-third of the seashore is in agricultural use today. Nearly twice that amount is designated as wilderness. Nothing in this bill expands agriculture. It is limited to the areas where there is currently ranching or dairy operations.

I also want to address and emphasize the fact that nothing in this bill suggests elimination of elk from the seashore. I am not aware of a single stakeholder who has suggested eliminating elk. If they had, I would reject it. There is no reason elk and ranching cannot coexist on the seashore if there is effective management and separation in areas of conflict. This bill leaves broad discretion to the Park Service to determine the strategies and actions that make the most sense to achieve that goal.

For those worried that this bill may somehow reopen the 2012 decision by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to not renew for Drakes Bay Oyster Company and to designate and manage Drakes Estero as marine wilderness, let me be emphatically clear. There is nothing in the letter or the intent of this bill that possibly could be read to do that. The bill has nothing to do with the oyster issue. It focuses on making sure the unresolved part of Secretary Salazar's 2012 decision, the part providing long-term assurances for the historic ranches and dairies, is actually carried out.

In this regard, I was mindful in drafting the bill of Secretary Salazar's specific direction in his memo of November 29, 2012, that the Park Service work with the ranches and dairies to ``reaffirm my intention that, consistent with applicable laws and planning processes, recognition of the role of ranching be maintained and to pursue extending permits to 20-year terms. . . .''

Secretary Salazar also directed that ``the values of multigenerational ranching and farming at Point Reyes should be fully considered in future planning efforts. These working ranches are a vibrant and compatible part of Point Reyes National Seashore and both now and in the future represent an important contribution to Point Reyes' superlative natural and cultural resources.'' I couldn't agree more.

Finally, we have been careful in this bill not to micromanage or tie the hands of the Park Service. As we made clear in amendments at markup and in the committee report, the Service retains the ability to exercise commonsense discretion in the supervision of the seashore's agriculture property and in administering its various permits and leases.

For example, the Park Service is not financially responsible for operating ranches and dairies. It is not required to bring back property into agriculture if it has been retired or converted to other purposes. It doesn't have to allow ranching on agricultural property where there is no willing lessee.

Nothing in this bill diminishes any of the Secretary's existing discretionary authority regarding how to manage agricultural property, including setting and enforcing permit terms and conditions and allowing shorter lease or permit terms if a rancher does not want a 20- year lease or permit. All of this is common sense.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6687 is a narrowly tailored bill to help ensure that sustainable ranches and dairies continue as part of the fabric of our spectacular Point Reyes National Seashore for generations to come. The bill does this without compromising any environmental standards. It is consistent with both longstanding congressional intent, with Secretary Salazar's 2012 policy directive, and with the current National Park Service planning process.

I am proud that this bill has been a refreshing bipartisan effort here in Congress, and I do want to thank my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee for their support and assistance, especially Chairman Rob Bishop and his staff, as well as Ranking Member Raul Grijalva and his staff, who have worked diligently to perfect this legislation and to move it forward.

I also want to thank my staff, especially my district director, Jenny Callaway, as well as Logan Ferree and Christine Sur from my legislative team, for their hard work to make this bill possible.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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