“It’s devastating,” says Albert Straus, founder of Straus Family Creamery in Marin County. Two of the departing dairies were his suppliers. More than his business, he mourns his community.
“We’ve lost over 200 people between the farm families and farm workers. Schools may be closing. The farmer’s market is dying. We’re losing our whole community.”
In the waning days of the Biden administration, officials at Point Reyes National Seashore announced a deal had been made behind closed doors: 11 ranching families on 12 properties would be leaving, their historic leases with the National Park Service—promised as part of the permanent design of the Seashore when it first became federal land in 1962—transferred wholesale to The Nature Conservancy, a large and well-funded NGO.
While the move generated national outrage, for Sonoma and Marin Counties, the impact has been tangible. Removing a dozen farms and ranches in one fell swoop has put farmworkers out of jobs, shrinking schools, devastated local food supply chains, and looks to change the face of the storied organic agricultural community forever.
“In Marin County, we had 64 dairies in 1976,” Straus says. “We’re down to 13 now.”
