By Josh Collins

The recent agreement among beef and dairy ranchers, environmental nonprofits and the National Park Service to phase out commercial agriculture within the Point Reyes National Seashore has reignited passionate debate over the management of this beloved landscape.

Arguments in favor of commercial agriculture call into question the very purpose of the park. In this regard, the perspectives of people in government who led the early effort to establish it are relevant. Their professional opinions are well documented in the original proposal and related congressional testimony. But their personal perspectives are missing. As civil servants, they were discouraged from sharing their personal thinking for the public record.

I can provide some of that missing perspective. My father was one of the NPS visionaries who led the effort to establish PRNS. His name was George Collins.

My dad served as chief of recreational resources and land planning for the region from 1948 until he retired in 1960. He directed the survey that prioritized Point Reyes for federal protection, based on social and environmental considerations, including the national concern that too much of the exemplary American coast was being privatized, with accompanying losses in public benefits.

My dad recommended the size and shape of the park and produced its first land-use plan. He helped draft the official purpose: “To preserve, for purposes of public recreation, benefit, and inspiration, a portion of the diminishing seashore of the United States that remains undeveloped.”

He sought to restore its ecosystems in large enough measure for them to eventually recover from whatever human operations constrained or damaged them — then maintain themselves, as much as possible. My dad understood that the natural processes would need to be managed to some extent. But he felt that the more NPS intervened in nature the more costly and less successful the management would be.

My dad worked to restore what he called the “whole worth” of Point Reyes. That included its value “as a place to develop and demonstrate better relations among people and their natural world.” His vision didn’t involve land uses that interfered with its return to nature. His concept of recreation centered on inspiration, spiritual and emotional awakening and healing, not sports. His concept of appropriate land use excluded commercial agriculture. Its negative ecological impacts were already well known.

He developed early versions of lease-back arrangements for ranch and dairy owners. My dad felt that those willing to sell were making personal sacrifices on behalf of the natural resources of Point Reyes and the American people. For that they should be given adequate time to prepare themselves and their employees for their inevitable departure. He privately expected that it might take longer than planned, given that ranching and dairying were mainstays of local culture. Nevertheless, he was confident that all commercial agriculture and other private enterprises that were inconsistent with the purpose of the park would eventually cease or move away.

My dad said Point Reyes has the most to offer to the greatest number of people as a place of natural beauty and integrity that reminds us of our American heritage and our collective ability as citizens of this country and the world to secure the best examples of our entrusted environment for future generations. It is not only beloved by its local and regional communities; it’s a national treasure.

George Collins passed away peacefully in 2000, at age 96. If he could talk to us now, he’d support the public’s involvement in the park’s management. He’d be encouraged by the recent court settlement requiring the NPS to better protect and restore its natural resources. He’d appreciate the consistency between the settlement, the mission of the NPS and the park’s founding purpose.

On my dad’s behalf, I wish to thank the families who have agreed to stop ranching and dairying within the park. Their decisions to make their way outside of its boundaries will greatly help restore its “natural well-being,” as my dad would say, for the Seashore, the American people and the world.

Josh Collins grew up in Marin County. He lives in Bend, Oregon and has more than five decades of experience as a conservation scientist working for regulated industry, government and nonprofit organizations.