To the editor: Susanne Rust’s article pits ranchers and dairy farmers towards environmentalists over the seashore’s future (“Inside the bitter war over cows and wilderness at Point Reyes,” Aug. 16). For these of us who’ve lived and labored on this panorama for many years, that framing sells quick what Level Reyes has at all times been.
For generations, Level Reyes ranchers and dairy farmers have proven that, by fastidiously managed grazing, we are able to scale back wildfire danger, management invasive species, keep open grasslands and produce meals for native communities. We consider Level Reyes can nonetheless be a spot the place agriculture and conservation work collectively.
The displacement of ranching and dairy households has had profound penalties. Houses have been misplaced, staff uprooted, long-standing neighborhood networks fractured and an important natural meals system weakened. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal businesses to weigh the social, cultural and financial results of main actions, not simply environmental ones. These penalties deserve the identical consideration as environmental targets.
Level Reyes was based on the imaginative and prescient that conservation and dealing ranches may coexist. Its future ought to honor that legacy moderately than abandon it.
Albert Straus, Petaluma; Kevin Lunny, Level Reyes Station, Calif.
Straus is the founder and government chair of the Straus Household Creamery. Lunny is a former Level Reyes rancher.
