photo credit: David Berry/flickr
Tomales Point in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The future of private ranching within Point Reyes National Seashore is in question.

Non-disclosure agreements have made solid answers about the four dairies and 17 cattle grazing leases within the national park hard to come by.

That's as alleged settlement talks brokered by the Nature Conservancy could announce an end to the operations any day now.

So said Andrew Giacomini.

Giacomini's an attorney representing, pro-bono, dozens of ranch employees who work and reside in the park.

"The National Park Service, these various environmental plaintiffs and the Nature Conservancy have been working on a settlement for over two years," Giacomini said."We didn't realize until recently, my clients did, that they were gonna lose their houses because of this proposed settlement."

"The first thing we tried to do was intervene in the lawsuit that was pending, where these secret settlement discussions are going on," Giacomini said.

Giacomini said his attempts to intervene in the talks and for a temporary restraining order to prevent the settlement, on behalf of the ranch employees, have both been denied in federal court.

"I'm just convinced that the settlement is gonna happen," Giacomini said. "You're gonna get breaking news of it any time now, is what I predict and certainly before Trump takes office. So we're gonna keep fighting for the ag workers and their families for as long as it takes to protect their housing, which we think is totally achievable."

Giacomini lamented the likely end of the seashore's historic ranches, but with so little housing available in West Marin, he argued there's still a way forward for his clients to remain in their homes.

"If I could get the Park Service to agree to keep the housing as housing, even if the ranch is closed, I can raise the money necessary to improve all that housing and make it all dignified and appropriate, which some of it isn't right now," Giacomini said. "There are a lot of people that will support that second effort to improve the housing. Right now we're trying to secure the housing."

The settlement mediator and the National Parks Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.