Protecting Point Reyes Tule Elk

Thanks to a decade of unflagging work by the Center and allies, two lawsuits, and tens of thousands of comments by Center supporters, the majestic and long embattled tule elk of Point Reyes National Seashore in California can finally roam free and expand throughout the only national park where they live.

The Agreement

In 2025 the Center and allied conservation groups signed a historic settlement agreement with the National Park Service and ranchers that retires all dairy ranches and three-quarters of the private commercial beef cattle ranches at Point Reyes. A dozen ranchers took buyouts from a conservation group to retire 15 ranch allotments covering nearly 17,000 acres and removing more than 4,700 cattle.

The agreement prohibits dairy operations, calling for their removal. It calls for former ranchlands to be rezoned as scenic landscape, where commercial livestock grazing is prohibited and elk can roam free, and for former ranch leases to be converted to conservation leases explicitly intended for ecological restoration — allowing enhancement of native plants and grasslands, reduction of invasive vegetation and soil erosion, improvement of wildlife habitat and water quality, and increased public access. The agreement allows for future buyouts of additional ranching leases at Point Reyes and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Background

Tule elk are a highly social subspecies of elk native to California and found nowhere else, named for the kind of sedge they eat. These magnificent animals range from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the green hills of the Pacific Coast — including Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, California.

Point Reyes is a success story for the reintroduction of native tule elk and restoring ecosystem processes. Tule elk grazed the Point Reyes peninsula for about 10,000 years —hunters and ranchers nearly wiped them out by the late 1800s. By 1870 the elk were thought extinct in California, but from a remnant herd, they've now been reintroduced into 22 areas around the state. Tule elk returned to Point Reyes in 1978, when the Park Service reintroduced elk to Tomales Point. In 1998 the Park Service moved a few elk to the Limantour wilderness area of Point Reyes to establish a free-roaming herd. The Limantour herd and an offshoot Drakes Beach herd had grown to 387 elk as of 2023, and they’re expected to dramatically increase in numbers.

But because of adjacent cattle ranches, for decades the Park Service confined the Tomales Point herd behind an 8-foot-high, 2.2-mile-long enclosure fence that was fatal to the animals. Cut off from most of Point Reyes’ food and water resources and connectivity with free-roaming herds, animals in the artificially confined herd died by the hundreds, especially in years of drought driven by climate change.

A 2024 victory by the Center and allies saw the Park Service remove the Tomales Point elk fence, allowing the constrained elk to roam free at last.

All Point Reyes elk can now move unrestricted and expand throughout the park, and a previous proposal to shoot elk to cap their population has been abandoned.

More on Our Work

Through litigation, media outreach, and advocacy, the Center has defended the Point Reyes National Seashore since 2010 and Point Reyes' tule elk since 2014.

Check out our press releases to learn more about the Center's actions to save Point Reyes tule elk.