Republicans Probe Secret Biden-Era Settlement With Green Groups to Shut Down Family Ranches
10th April 2025
A top House panel that oversees public land policies is investigating five green groups that brokered a settlement with federal officials in the waning days of the Biden administration, forcing family-owned ranches to vacate their leases on federal property over environmental concerns, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
Under the January 2025 settlement between the green groups, owners of 11 multi-generational ranches, and the National Park Service, 12 of the 14 existing organic dairies and cattle ranches located across Point Reyes National Seashore in northern California will be abandoned by early 2026. The agreement was made possible by the Nature Conservancy, a Virginia-based group which financed the agreement and will pay the ranchers an undisclosed sum of money.
The settlement is the culmination of a lawsuit the green groups in question filed against the National Park Service in 2022. The lawsuit argued that the agency had illegally leased Point Reyes National Seashore property for commercial beef and dairy ranching “despite the significant harm that it causes to environmental, scenic, and recreational values.” Environmental activists have long attacked ranching, arguing it destroys surrounding habitats and produces carbon emissions.