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While this article is more about Southern California, for Northern California (Marin county) worth also mentioning this article co-authored by Gabriel Rosenberg

While this article is more about Southern California, for Northern California (Marin county) worth also mentioning this article co-authored by Gabriel Rosenberg (@bearistotle) about cattle on Point Reyes , California - "the myth of regenerative ranching" - https://newrepublic.com/article/163735/myth-regenerative-ranching https://newrepublic.com/article/163735/myth-regenerative-ran... "the Harvard Animal Law and Policy Clinic, on behalf of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and a number of individual plaintiffs, filed suit against the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, which manages Point Reyes National Park, alleging that cattle ranching is endangering the iconic tule elk.* It’s not the first such lawsuit that has been filed over the past decade against the NPS to stop alleged environmental damage from Point Reyes cows."

jonstewart 4y ago
I immediately thought of Point Reyes when I started reading this article — it's such a cool, extreme ecosystem, and then you wonder, "what is that SMELL?" and you turn your head, and there are the cattle herds and tons of cow shit. I'm from the Midwest, grew up on a farm, and I wish California would get out of the livestock business. I've driven by all sorts of CAFOs, but Point Reyes and Harris Ranch take disgusting to a new level. The Midwest has significant water quality issues stemming from big ag that need to be solved, for sure, but California's ecosystems are varied and amazing, and they're being ruined by types of agriculture that's not well-suited to the land.
- mythrwy 4y ago
  Agreed. I also grew up around cattle and eat beef regularly. No objection to cattle farming at all on my part. But I lived in Arizona and worked with native vegetation for a long time and saw the vast amount of damage cattle did the desert ecosystem. No animal that size lives there natively. Much of the ground was BLM and leased for very nominal fees. Tearing up a desert ecosystem that takes a long time to regenerate for the tiny amount of money produced by skinny parched cows at a subsidy makes no sense at all. I vote we keep the cows, but where they belong and not where they don't belong.

jonstewart 4y ago

I immediately thought of Point Reyes when I started reading this article — it's such a cool, extreme ecosystem, and then you wonder, "what is that SMELL?" and you turn your head, and there are the cattle herds and tons of cow shit. I'm from the Midwest, grew up on a farm, and I wish California would get out of the livestock business. I've driven by all sorts of CAFOs, but Point Reyes and Harris Ranch take disgusting to a new level. The Midwest has significant water quality issues stemming from big ag that need to be solved, for sure, but California's ecosystems are varied and amazing, and they're being ruined by types of agriculture that's not well-suited to the land.

mythrwy 4y ago
Agreed. I also grew up around cattle and eat beef regularly. No objection to cattle farming at all on my part. But I lived in Arizona and worked with native vegetation for a long time and saw the vast amount of damage cattle did the desert ecosystem. No animal that size lives there natively. Much of the ground was BLM and leased for very nominal fees. Tearing up a desert ecosystem that takes a long time to regenerate for the tiny amount of money produced by skinny parched cows at a subsidy makes no sense at all. I vote we keep the cows, but where they belong and not where they don't belong.