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About
Deborah Goldeen started PRRR for the purpose of advocating for the phasing out commercial ranching in Point Reyes National Seashore.
Deb has been hiking PRNS since it was first opened to the public in the '70s, but it wasn't until 2021that she drove north on Pierce Point Road and discovered, to her dismay, that most of the north half of the park was ranched. Not only that, but these ranching operations were so intensive, they were feedlots than they were pastures.
Back home, a little internet research turned up the whole tragic saga of mendacity, mismanagement, broken promises and catastrophic elk die offs. Determined that park visitor should know what was going on, she made copies of articles and headed back out to the elk preserve and spent the weekend doing what she does best: talking with people.
No surprise, there was already a large, active group of "elktivists." But advocacy was not on their radar. Advocacy work is mundane, takes significant personal investment of time and energy and, on the surface of it, provides scant reward. It is Deb's conviction that you cannot bring about change without the support of public opinion. Abraham Lincoln agrees: "Pubic sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed." Public sentiment is most effectively influenced by in person conversation, one conversation at a time.
Alarmed by what she discovered on her first visit to Tomales Point in 2021, Deborah Goldeen started advocating for the ending of ranching in PRNS. She founded Point Reyes Reclamation and Restoration (PRRR) in 2023 in order to further that purpose.
Though legal action is important, PRRR was created to focus on educating the general public because, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, without public opinion you can do nothing. With public opinion you can do anything. At PRRR we believe public opinion is best influenced one conversation at a time. Most of these conversations take place in the free speech zone at the Bear Valley Visitor Center in PRNS.
Whether or not commercial use of this national park should continue and if so, in what form, is disputable. What is not in dispute is that most of the ranching in the park right now is extractive and destructive. The "pasture" is barren and trampled, some ranches leave untreated human waste to flow into the seashore and have dug giant garbage pits where they leave dead cars and appliance to rust. Even though this is all public lands, established trails are blocked by ranchers, preventing access to these trails. This is unacceptable.
Most "Elktivists" and most ranchers feel that giving an inch would be a slippery slope; that it's all or nothing. For the Tule Elk and all the rest of the native flora and fauna to thrive, the extractive, exploitive ranching practices need to end. But, for better or worse, the west Marin dairy economy is dependent on some of that ranching. Because of this, PRRR feels the best approach would be a collaborative one.
Personal Herstory: Born in Palo Alto, Ca in 1963, Deborah studied biochemistry at UCSC but decided to marry and raise children instead of continue with science. Fifteen years as a homemaker were followed by seventeen years running a horse immersion/riding program that used rescue horses and provided scholarship for youth of limited means. She was fondly referred to as the horse fairy godmother. By 2019, the horses were all too old to continue teaching kids to ride so both the horses and Deborah retired.
Deborah has had a life long passion for advocacy, including writing anti-war protest letters as a six year old, starting a human rights advocacy club in high school and unceasing bicycle, climate change, and housing advocacy as an adult. PRRR is her first, dedicated full time advocacy venture.
