The top House panel overseeing public land policy is investigating five green groups that have established reconciliation with federal officials in the era of the Biden administration’s decline, forcing family-owned ranches to withdraw their environmental issues on federal property, Washington Free Beacon Learned. [emphasis, links added]
In January 2025 reconciliation between green groups, owners of 11 multi-generation ranches and the National Park Service, In early 2026, 12 of the 14 existing organic dairy and cattle ranches on the Reyes National Coast in Northern California will be abandoned.
The agreement was proposed by Virginia-based Nature Conservancy, which funded the agreement and would pay ranchers an undisclosed amount.
The solution is the climax of the lawsuit, which involved a green group against the National Park Service in 2022.
The lawsuit holds that the agency has illegally leased Reyes National Coast property for commercial beef and dairy ranches “even though it has caused significant damage to the environmental, scenic and recreational value.”
Environmentalists have long been attacking pastures, believing it destroys surrounding habitat and produces carbon emissions.
But critics of the reconciliation say it ends one of the most successful public-private partnerships in recent memory and threatens to destroy the local economy while having an impact on consumers across the country.
They also argue that the ranchers finally gave up and signed up the solution and carried out a secret pressure campaign by federal government officials after years of environmental litigation (activists) repeatedly accused of destroying the environment, wildlife and native plants.
The congressional investigation was announced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westman (R., Ark.) and six Republicans seeking more information on how the settlement is brought together.
It tries to hone the activities of the Nature Conservancy.
The investigation could ultimately withdraw powerful environmental groups coordinated with the Biden administration to close family-run businesses that provide dairy, agriculture and meat to consumers nationwide.
It also represents the latest move by Congress in Biden officials to investigate climate litigation that was conducted shortly before the Trump administration took office.
“The committee is concerned not only with transparency of solutions, but also with the environmental and legal consequences that solutions may have,” the Republican committee wrote in a monitoring letter to the Nature Conservation Association on Thursday morning.
It is believed that ranchers are allegedly paying as much as $40 million under the settlement, but hesitated about the deal and were forced to sign a non-public agreement.
The letter also said ranchers were under pressure from the National Park Service to “keep quiet.” Representatives of the Nature Conservancy allegedly visited some ranchers’ homes to ensure compliance with the deal.
The Nature Conservancy solicits donations to fund settlements, News Democrats January's report was largely funded by foreign billionaire Hansjörg Wyss.
Through his nonprofit, Swiss-born Wyss promised $1 billion in conservation projects to the Nature Conservation Program in 2020 and paid nearly $70 million to the group and its branches between 2018 and 2023.
The Natural Resources Commission sent separate oversight letters to the Center for Biodiversity, the Institute for Resource Renewal, the Western Watershed Project, and Western advocates and participated in the settlement.
In January, the National Park Service revised its management plan for the National Coast on Mount Reyes and the nearby Kinmen National Recreation Area under the settlement agreement. Convert land leased by ranchers into scenic landscape areas, which prevails over conservation over other uses.
“Culturally, it’s devastating for our community,” Albert Straus, founder of Straus Family Creamery near Cape Reyes, told The The The The The The Washington Free Beacon. “These are long-term community members who have been expelled and displaced and AG working families.”
“By losing these farms, we are now in the United States with a shortage of organic milk,“ He continued.
“Nationwide, we have dropped from 4.6 million dairy farms in 1940 to 26,000 today, and over the next decade, they expect only about 12,000 survivors. So we are losing our farms, losing our communities, and losing our ability to produce food. This is a misleading effort. We are too dependent on imports, which is unsustainable.transparent
Top image of Reyes Dairy Ranch via YouTube screenshot
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