I read government records, including the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Point Reyes released by the National Park Service in September. Then, I studied historical and eco-biologic books and science journals. Initially, I had no opinion on the ranching issue. This reporter has hiked the varied terrains of the 71,000-acre park for decades. The North Bay community is divided by conflicted views on whether commercial dairy and cattle ranching should continue at Point Reyes National Seashore. If so, Point Reyes has a story to tell us. It’s way past time to start listening to lessons encoded in the land. California is burning, beset by plague, violence and cultural dysphoria. … You young people must not forget the things us old ones is telling you.’” … An elder prophesied that one day white people would come to us to ‘learn our ways in order to save the earth and all living things. … Everything, even a mere pebble, was thought to have power … Cutting down a tree was a violent act. Everywhere you looked there were stories. … The landscape was our sacred text and we listened to what it told us. At that time, all of the animals and birds and plants and trees were people. “Coyote created the world from the top of Sonoma Mountain with the assistance of his nephew, Chicken Hawk. In The Once and Future Forest, Sarris tells the story of how the first people came to be in Marin and Sonoma counties. The tribe’s ancestors are known as Southern Poma and Coast Miwok. Novelist and scholar Greg Sarris is the tribal chair of the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria.
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