Lynn C. Woolsey: “I rise today to mark the introduction of a bill that is crucial to my district. It is very important. It is the Point…”

“I rise today to mark the introduction of a bill that is crucial to my district. It is very important. It is the Point Reyes National Seashore Farmland Protection Act, H.R. 1995. Just 45 miles north of San Francisco lies the Point Reyes National Seashore, a peninsula containing 71,000 acres of the most beautiful vistas and pristine wilderness in America. Across Tomales Bay from the seashore lie 38,000 acres of privately held land that is used for agriculture, primarily for dairy ranching. In Marin and Sonoma Counties, we like it that way, since we know that farmland makes our community economically strong and economically diverse. The national seashore likes it that way because the careful stewardship of these lands by ranchers has helped to safeguard the seashore and the bay, keeping it one of the most pristine areas in our Nation. The ranchers like it that way because ranching is their livelihood, and they like what they do. And the community likes it that way, because local residents know that agriculture plays an important role in the mix that gives the north bay a strong economy and makes it a wonderful place to live. No one, Mr. Speaker, absolutely no one in the community wants to see the land turned into housing developments or casinos, except possibly developers who are putting pressure on the area to change. So that is what I have set out to do in the Point Reyes National Seashore Farmlands Protection Act, keep everything the way it is now.”