In His First Term, Trump Vowed to Save the Point Reyes Ranchers. They Were Out Just Days Before His Second Inauguration.
Did the Biden Administration intentionally try to get the ranchers off Point Reyes before Trump’s return to office?
During his first term in 2019, President Trump signed a referendum designed to protect small family farmers from government overreach, inspired by the National Park Service’s actions on Point Reyes.
He invited Kevin Lunny, the former operator of Drake’s Bay Oyster Farm on Point Reyes, to the White House.
“The National Park Service forced our oyster farm out of business,” Lunny said behind the presidential seal. “And if that wasn’t enough for our family and our community, today the rest of agriculture, which includes about another 24 ranching family farm businesses within the National Seashore, are facing the exact same process. Our fear is that those families may be facing what the oyster farm faced.”
Trump vowed to protect ranching on Point Reyes.
“We’ll have somebody right here in the White House looking at it, Kevin, so this doesn’t happen to other people,” Trump told Lunny. “You’re really brave to be here. I think it’s incredible. I really mean it.”
Then Donald Trump lost his re-elect bid in 2020, and a new administration took over.
Lunny’s fear proved prescient. Last month, the Park Service announced the departure of ranching from Point Reyes. Lunny’s speech at the Point Reyes Town Hall garnered widespread attention as he appeared to mourn this final loss for his family’s agricultural heritage.
Trump Signs Executive Acts Geared Toward Transparency & Regulation Busting
Back in 2012, former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar under then-President Obama announced the closure of the Drake’s Bay Oyster Farm on Point Reyes, operated by the Lunny family.
This sustainable family business produced over half the oysters in the state of California. Insiders say the decision was based on bunk science and pressure from outside environmental groups.
“The science was totally bogus,” a source with knowledge told me on condition of anonymity.
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