What started as a simple animal advocacy project has led to the discovery of an incredible amount of corruption fueled by the power of the animal agricultural industry. Some of the worst examples of land management that exist in the nation are taking place within a national seashore celebrated for its unique beauty and array of wildlife.
Begin the journey of awareness by watching the films below (short version and feature length version).
Begin the journey of awareness by watching the films below (short version and feature length version).
In the discussion regarding Point Reyes National Seashore people often get caught up in the legal debate of the private ranches continuing to operate on public land despite the expiration of the original leases. This in turn leads to a complex and confusing history of short term leases, “letters of authorization”, and an ongoing effort by the ranchers and their politicians attempting to amend the legislation.
What I believe people need to focus on is that the ranching activities in Point Reyes are so terrible that they should NOT be legal anywhere, much less in an incredible National Seashore that was purchased by Congress with our tax dollars to preserve it for our and future generations to enjoy. For the greater good, we should be making every effort to end such destructive and selfish practices rather than looking for ways to promote and celebrate them. Part of my filmmaking process included wading through the deeply embedded propaganda spread by the ranching community to mislead the public as to the reality of what is taking place in the seashore. Those who finally realize what has been taking place out there often have the first reaction of “How did I not know, and how can this be happening?”
What I believe people need to focus on is that the ranching activities in Point Reyes are so terrible that they should NOT be legal anywhere, much less in an incredible National Seashore that was purchased by Congress with our tax dollars to preserve it for our and future generations to enjoy. For the greater good, we should be making every effort to end such destructive and selfish practices rather than looking for ways to promote and celebrate them. Part of my filmmaking process included wading through the deeply embedded propaganda spread by the ranching community to mislead the public as to the reality of what is taking place in the seashore. Those who finally realize what has been taking place out there often have the first reaction of “How did I not know, and how can this be happening?”
My journey of discovering the corruption in Point Reyes began with my personal experience witnessing the disturbing scene of new baby cows separated from their mothers and kept in isolation as part of the standard practice of the dairy operations that exist in Point Reyes (both the seashore and surrounding areas). Spending time with these babies was a crushing experience, a reality that most of us turn a blind eye to. I understand that such treatment and worse exists on a massive scale in the world, but why was something so ugly being allowed in a place so beautiful?
But to then learn that the park service intended to kill the Tule elk within the seashore at the request of the very businesses that had just horrified me was too much to bear. Wildlife, removed by the park service, to make more room for animal exploitation. This sent me down a path of discovering atrocity after atrocity committed by the ranchers and apparently backed by the park service. The list is so long I will begin with simple bullet points then provide details.
My film was never meant to be a major project but it seemed that each week I would learn something new that would leave me wondering, “How? How can this be? How is this possible? How can the park service allow this, why isn’t the park service doing their job?”
The explanation to all the above seems to be one of demographic and geological influences. This is a seashore on an isolated section of coast deep within a powerful ranching county. Decades went by with the park service staff consisting of and surrounded by members of the ranching community. One staff member said, “Our kids go to school with their kids.” Add in the ever present fear and intimidation that comes from living in a community of powerful people accustomed to getting their way (and backed by politicians) and suddenly you realize that even the most staunch environmentalist would be keeping quiet as a staff member at Point Reyes National Seashore. The intimidation is real. Anti Ranching staff members have gone to new locations. Anti ranching members of the community told me they were “afraid to go on record for fear of life being made hard for them.”
Indeed I was warned myself multiple times and eventually woke up to the fact that these weren’t innocent, struggling, farm families, but were wealthy and powerful people with the ability to influence politicians and have their way with congress.
Finding this all a little hard to believe? That’s understandable. But I have all the documents and video footage to prove it and have now provided that for the public free of charge. ShameofPointReyes.org
Below is a more detailed look at the list I provided above.
The Water:
The ranching activities have been allowed to operate unchecked to such an extent that this national seashore is one of the most contaminated water locations in the entire nation. Read that again. This is Point Reyes National Seashore, a place we think of as an incredible example of inspirational, beautiful coastline, and these ranchers poison the water on a scale that is hard to believe...in fact you will be tempted to deny this accusation despite the fact that studies sanctioned by the park service returned these results.
The Land:
Much of the water contamination is a result of seepage coming from land saturated with cow manure. And I do mean saturated. 133 million pounds of cow poop is produced annually by ranches managed by PRNS. Again, this is a hard figure to fathom, but if you do what I did, which was to actually observe the continuous pooping of nearly 6,000 cattle (they constantly eat therefore they constantly poop), the intentional spreading of manure over the seashore via ranchers’ trucks, and even liquified poop sprinkler systems, then what seems unbelievable starts to take the shape of reality. Adding insult to injury are the state funded grants giving ranchers even more money to invest in carbon farming, which rewards them for producing poop that we should be doing everything possible to get rid of entirely.
To put the above two paragraphs into context, employees of the Bureau of Land Management and even former Point Reyes Park Service staff have described this seashore as THE WORST EXAMPLE of land management they have ever seen.
It defies logic to think this land and water, both saturated in cow waste, isn’t making existence difficult for the native plants and animals. And yet the ranchers have the nerve to claim they provide habitat for endangered and threatened species. No, the ranchers have property on land that they exploit and animals try to live on. If one of the ranches happens not to completely over exploit one small area are we really supposed to herald them as stewards of the land?
Habitat
Which brings us to the next point. Ranchers spread the propaganda of being responsible for the beautiful landscapes of Point Reyes when the reality is that they ranch on beauty that was already present and tries to persevere despite ranching damage. I am guilty of formerly enjoying the site of the green rolling hills of Marin county during the rainy season. What most of us don’t realize, including myself formerly, is that these hills aren’t meant to look like golf courses with a few scattered trees. That is NOT wildlife habitat. One only needs to go deep into the elk reserve to get a taste of the diverse plant life that should (and did) once provide a home for a variety of wonderful animal species. I reiterate that you do not find diversified habitat on grazed land. Another common angle of propaganda is that the ranchers helped save this land from development. In reality the ranchers resisted the purchase to such an extent that it took many years to complete the purchase and resulted in the first temporary leases offered just to get the ranchers to sell. As the legislation VERY CLEARLY states, this seashore was purchased for the public with the expressed intent of preserving to the maximum extent its natural state, thus the land is already saved through that purchase from development!.
And yet the ranches that destroy habitat are allowed to expand and build all while telling the public they are doing the wildlife a favor by being there. There is NO scenario in which the wildlife aren’t better off with their actual habitat rather than with the ranching altered habitat.
Mowing Down Babies
On the topic of habitat let’s discuss the horror of the annual silage mowing. Vast stretches of land in the seashore that native animals once used to carry out their daily lives have been reduced to crops that are grown and chopped down on a yearly cycle. One might be tempted to criticize animals for trying to use these fields for their habitat, but this does not take into consideration that animals are simply trying to survive in competition with other animals for any land that we humans have left for them. The consequence of attempting to live in this temporary crop field is to be chopped up in mower blades in the spring...at the exact same time new life is entering the world. I’ve seen it. I’ve filmed it. Native animals, in particular nesting birds, are executed via rancher harvest just as they attempt to continue the circle of life. This isn’t a lie. I spent a soul-crushing afternoon watching it happen so give me the courtesy of at least looking at the footage I gathered as proof. I was also beaten up by a rancher as a cost of exposing myself in the process of gathering this footage, so again, try to look past the convenience of denying something you don’t want to believe. If my word and footage isn’t enough, there are already two published studies documenting the effects of silage mowing on native birds in the seashore...two studies the rancher-controlled park service has ignored.
Sustainability
I can already hear the next excuse in my mind from ranching supporters, that this sad carnage is necessary to feed the American people. Well, that’s just it. Absolutely none of these fields grow food for humans. These fields grow SUPPLEMENTAL food FOR CATTLE to go along with the thousands of overgrazed acres of national seashore land, and thousands of tons of imported hay, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water...all used to force bovines to produce products that humans don’t need, shouldn’t eat, most can’t afford anyway, and that our government has to subsidize on an incredible scale just to keep these horrific businesses afloat. Any mention of defending these ranches due to their sustainable, organic practices is insulting, yet is professed widely due to the ignorant repeating of widespread propaganda.
Cruelty
And now we come to the cattle themselves. For everyone thinking of me as a “God-damned liberal hippie”, I challenge you to spend a day with brand new babies who have been taken from the very thing their primal instincts crave...their mothers. I’m not talking about snapping a photo...I’m talking about observing their fragility, their fear, their confusion, and the never ending hunger of babies deprived of the ability to feed from their mothers. Shortly after entering the world their existences were reduced to 4x5.5 foot enclosures and no contact with other living creatures, including their own mothers. With both their eyes and their vocal cries they pleaded with me for contact, for their mothers, for food, for help...for mercy. We have been conditioned to accept this as a “just the way it is” but I can tell you from experience there is no more fundamental form of evil than to do this to a living creature, particularly in the name of increasing profits. This is why we are going to kill elk...to protect the profits of people who do this to animals for a living...to produce products that will make you fat and unhealthy. Have you ever considered that baby cows grow to 500 pounds within the first months of life by feeding on their mother’s milk. Is it registering at all that perhaps you shouldn’t be ingesting something like that?
We have been brainwashed to revere people who destroy land, kill wildlife, and engage in animal cruelty...why? Because in our ears we hear the echo that “they work the land making an honest living”? Because we hold tradition to be so dear? Then I propose that next to the ranch buildings we also have exhbits celebrating the human traditions of slavery, foot binding, shark-finning, seal-clubbing, dolphin massacres, whaling, etc. Sadly that list could go on for quite some time. Can’t we make this tiny seashore at least one location where humans don’t exploit the land and animals?
But to then learn that the park service intended to kill the Tule elk within the seashore at the request of the very businesses that had just horrified me was too much to bear. Wildlife, removed by the park service, to make more room for animal exploitation. This sent me down a path of discovering atrocity after atrocity committed by the ranchers and apparently backed by the park service. The list is so long I will begin with simple bullet points then provide details.
- Brutally killing the offspring of native animals each spring.
- Crappiest places in the nation. The ranches produce so much bovine waste that tests conducted in the seashore ranked it as one of the top ten “crappiest” places in the nation. Both the land and water are saturated with 133 MILLION pounds of manure each year.
- Blatantly disregarding wildlife friendly recommendations that were submitted to the park decades ago.
- Declared as “The worse case of land management ever seen” by members of the BLM.
- Blatant lies about economic value and sustainability.
- Tearing out native plants and replacing them with annual invasives.
- Allowing 250 elk to die of thirst while all of the nearly 6,000 cattle were kept alive.
- Ignoring public response surveys and ignoring overwhelming public outcry.
- Frequently violated lease agreements with no consequences.
- Using our tax dollars to fund ranching related expenses.
- Prioritizing rancher desires over wildlife needs.
- Receiving today’s equivalent of 350 million dollars for their land, but then getting to stay on the land and receive discounts and assistance to their business needs.
- Perpetually overgrazing land.
- Allowing the ranchers “to squat” on the land after the expiration of their leases.
- And of course, the never ending cycle of taking babies from their mothers then forcibly impregnating those childless mothers so they have to do it all again.
My film was never meant to be a major project but it seemed that each week I would learn something new that would leave me wondering, “How? How can this be? How is this possible? How can the park service allow this, why isn’t the park service doing their job?”
The explanation to all the above seems to be one of demographic and geological influences. This is a seashore on an isolated section of coast deep within a powerful ranching county. Decades went by with the park service staff consisting of and surrounded by members of the ranching community. One staff member said, “Our kids go to school with their kids.” Add in the ever present fear and intimidation that comes from living in a community of powerful people accustomed to getting their way (and backed by politicians) and suddenly you realize that even the most staunch environmentalist would be keeping quiet as a staff member at Point Reyes National Seashore. The intimidation is real. Anti Ranching staff members have gone to new locations. Anti ranching members of the community told me they were “afraid to go on record for fear of life being made hard for them.”
Indeed I was warned myself multiple times and eventually woke up to the fact that these weren’t innocent, struggling, farm families, but were wealthy and powerful people with the ability to influence politicians and have their way with congress.
Finding this all a little hard to believe? That’s understandable. But I have all the documents and video footage to prove it and have now provided that for the public free of charge. ShameofPointReyes.org
Below is a more detailed look at the list I provided above.
The Water:
The ranching activities have been allowed to operate unchecked to such an extent that this national seashore is one of the most contaminated water locations in the entire nation. Read that again. This is Point Reyes National Seashore, a place we think of as an incredible example of inspirational, beautiful coastline, and these ranchers poison the water on a scale that is hard to believe...in fact you will be tempted to deny this accusation despite the fact that studies sanctioned by the park service returned these results.
The Land:
Much of the water contamination is a result of seepage coming from land saturated with cow manure. And I do mean saturated. 133 million pounds of cow poop is produced annually by ranches managed by PRNS. Again, this is a hard figure to fathom, but if you do what I did, which was to actually observe the continuous pooping of nearly 6,000 cattle (they constantly eat therefore they constantly poop), the intentional spreading of manure over the seashore via ranchers’ trucks, and even liquified poop sprinkler systems, then what seems unbelievable starts to take the shape of reality. Adding insult to injury are the state funded grants giving ranchers even more money to invest in carbon farming, which rewards them for producing poop that we should be doing everything possible to get rid of entirely.
To put the above two paragraphs into context, employees of the Bureau of Land Management and even former Point Reyes Park Service staff have described this seashore as THE WORST EXAMPLE of land management they have ever seen.
It defies logic to think this land and water, both saturated in cow waste, isn’t making existence difficult for the native plants and animals. And yet the ranchers have the nerve to claim they provide habitat for endangered and threatened species. No, the ranchers have property on land that they exploit and animals try to live on. If one of the ranches happens not to completely over exploit one small area are we really supposed to herald them as stewards of the land?
Habitat
Which brings us to the next point. Ranchers spread the propaganda of being responsible for the beautiful landscapes of Point Reyes when the reality is that they ranch on beauty that was already present and tries to persevere despite ranching damage. I am guilty of formerly enjoying the site of the green rolling hills of Marin county during the rainy season. What most of us don’t realize, including myself formerly, is that these hills aren’t meant to look like golf courses with a few scattered trees. That is NOT wildlife habitat. One only needs to go deep into the elk reserve to get a taste of the diverse plant life that should (and did) once provide a home for a variety of wonderful animal species. I reiterate that you do not find diversified habitat on grazed land. Another common angle of propaganda is that the ranchers helped save this land from development. In reality the ranchers resisted the purchase to such an extent that it took many years to complete the purchase and resulted in the first temporary leases offered just to get the ranchers to sell. As the legislation VERY CLEARLY states, this seashore was purchased for the public with the expressed intent of preserving to the maximum extent its natural state, thus the land is already saved through that purchase from development!.
And yet the ranches that destroy habitat are allowed to expand and build all while telling the public they are doing the wildlife a favor by being there. There is NO scenario in which the wildlife aren’t better off with their actual habitat rather than with the ranching altered habitat.
Mowing Down Babies
On the topic of habitat let’s discuss the horror of the annual silage mowing. Vast stretches of land in the seashore that native animals once used to carry out their daily lives have been reduced to crops that are grown and chopped down on a yearly cycle. One might be tempted to criticize animals for trying to use these fields for their habitat, but this does not take into consideration that animals are simply trying to survive in competition with other animals for any land that we humans have left for them. The consequence of attempting to live in this temporary crop field is to be chopped up in mower blades in the spring...at the exact same time new life is entering the world. I’ve seen it. I’ve filmed it. Native animals, in particular nesting birds, are executed via rancher harvest just as they attempt to continue the circle of life. This isn’t a lie. I spent a soul-crushing afternoon watching it happen so give me the courtesy of at least looking at the footage I gathered as proof. I was also beaten up by a rancher as a cost of exposing myself in the process of gathering this footage, so again, try to look past the convenience of denying something you don’t want to believe. If my word and footage isn’t enough, there are already two published studies documenting the effects of silage mowing on native birds in the seashore...two studies the rancher-controlled park service has ignored.
Sustainability
I can already hear the next excuse in my mind from ranching supporters, that this sad carnage is necessary to feed the American people. Well, that’s just it. Absolutely none of these fields grow food for humans. These fields grow SUPPLEMENTAL food FOR CATTLE to go along with the thousands of overgrazed acres of national seashore land, and thousands of tons of imported hay, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water...all used to force bovines to produce products that humans don’t need, shouldn’t eat, most can’t afford anyway, and that our government has to subsidize on an incredible scale just to keep these horrific businesses afloat. Any mention of defending these ranches due to their sustainable, organic practices is insulting, yet is professed widely due to the ignorant repeating of widespread propaganda.
Cruelty
And now we come to the cattle themselves. For everyone thinking of me as a “God-damned liberal hippie”, I challenge you to spend a day with brand new babies who have been taken from the very thing their primal instincts crave...their mothers. I’m not talking about snapping a photo...I’m talking about observing their fragility, their fear, their confusion, and the never ending hunger of babies deprived of the ability to feed from their mothers. Shortly after entering the world their existences were reduced to 4x5.5 foot enclosures and no contact with other living creatures, including their own mothers. With both their eyes and their vocal cries they pleaded with me for contact, for their mothers, for food, for help...for mercy. We have been conditioned to accept this as a “just the way it is” but I can tell you from experience there is no more fundamental form of evil than to do this to a living creature, particularly in the name of increasing profits. This is why we are going to kill elk...to protect the profits of people who do this to animals for a living...to produce products that will make you fat and unhealthy. Have you ever considered that baby cows grow to 500 pounds within the first months of life by feeding on their mother’s milk. Is it registering at all that perhaps you shouldn’t be ingesting something like that?
We have been brainwashed to revere people who destroy land, kill wildlife, and engage in animal cruelty...why? Because in our ears we hear the echo that “they work the land making an honest living”? Because we hold tradition to be so dear? Then I propose that next to the ranch buildings we also have exhbits celebrating the human traditions of slavery, foot binding, shark-finning, seal-clubbing, dolphin massacres, whaling, etc. Sadly that list could go on for quite some time. Can’t we make this tiny seashore at least one location where humans don’t exploit the land and animals?
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