Tule elk will be permitted to roam free in Northern California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, the National Park Service announced Monday.
As part of a long-awaited park management plan, NPS approved the removal of fencing that has kept tule elk contained to a portion of the Point Reyes site. The fencing was initially implemented to keep elk from interfering with ranching and dairy operations within the park.
Tensions between ranchers and animal conservationists have simmered for decades over the seashore north of San Francisco. NPS has leased land to ranchers since the park site’s establishment in 1962 and introduced the elk species in 1978, where it has mostly thrived.
The disagreement about how to manage the elk became particularly intense after hundreds of the animals, confined to the north edge of the park, died in a drought from 2012 to 2014. Conservation groups argue that fencing has kept the tule elk from the resources they need, while ranchers have said free-roaming elk threaten their way of life.
