Enough with the silence. Enough with being ignored. Today, I am raising my voice to express the profound pain and despair that so many in my community are feeling.

The recent settlement to phase out most dairy and ranching operations in Point Reyes National Seashore means that more than 100 people like me — tenants and workers — are losing our jobs, our homes and our sense of belonging. Our lives are unraveling. The anguish is overwhelming. We feel our families are slipping away and our emotional health is crumbling under the weight of uncertainty.

National and regional news reports about the settlement have focused on environmental benefits and the ranching families losing land and tradition. But missing from the conversation are our voices — the voices of the Latino and Latina farmworkers and tenants whose labor has sustained these ranches for generations and who now face an uncertain future.

For decades, our families have lived and worked here. This land is as much our home as anyone’s. Yet we had no say in the closed-door negotiations that determined our fate.

In 2022, three environmental groups sued the National Park Service over ranch lease renewals, citing watershed contamination and threats to the tule elk’s habitat. This January, a settlement was announced: A dozen ranches will shut down in exchange for a reported $30 million buyout brokered by The Nature Conservancy.

This deal blindsided us. The ranchers, environmental groups and National Park Service all signed nondisclosure agreements — shutting out the very people most affected. Now we’re being told there will be some form of compensation, but the details remain vague and, once again, we are not at the table as decisions are made about our lives.

We are not just workers or tenants. We are human beings. We are part of this community. We have contributed to it, built it and sustained it. And yet, when it mattered most, our voices were erased.

The weight of this uncertainty is unbearable — especially for our children. They live in constant fear of displacement, worried about their parents losing their jobs, about leaving the only homes they’ve ever known and about being uprooted from their schools and friends. The mental and emotional toll is crushing.

Now we are being told we will have to move during the next school year. Have the negotiators considered what that will do to our children? Moving them mid-year will not only disrupt their education, but it will also destabilize them at a time when they need consistency the most. How can we expect them to thrive when everything around them is falling apart?

No achievement or success is worthwhile if it comes at the cost of ignoring those most impacted. We cannot allow this injustice to go unchallenged.

We can’t undo the harm that has already been done. But we can demand a seat at the table moving forward.

We have formed an advocacy group, Familias Afectadas de Rancho, to make sure our voices are heard. We are ready to work with Marin County officials, nonprofits and local residents to find solutions that won’t displace us.

It is crucial that ranchers assume the responsibility of providing fair compensation to each worker, recognizing the value of their hard work. Furthermore, ranchers should be involved in the transition planning process so they can understand the consequences of ignoring workers’ and tenants’ needs, including the psychological damage and mistreatment that have gone unnoticed for too long.

It is also essential to find permanent, affordable housing and relocation assistance for all displaced workers and tenants, including our children, who are suffering daily alongside us. We deserve to stay in West Marin — it is our home.

Together, we can work to ensure a better and more dignified future for all. Let us unite in this fight for justice, dignity, and the well-being of every individual in our community.

West Marin resident Rosa Rodriguez is part of Familias Afectadas de Rancho, an organized group of ranch workers and families impacted by the settlement that will phase out most private ranching in the Point Reyes National Seashore.