The Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) is not only a stunning piece of land—the first large national park created from all private lands and the first large park adjacent a large metropolitan center—but the fight to save this fragile ecosystem in the 1960s was a key turning point in the environmental movement and helped transform the political landscape of California and the nation. Saving Point Reyes is an environmental policy history that draws on archival materials, oral histories, and new interviews with veteran federal policymakers to understand how legislative bargaining and grassroots politics succeeded in achieving this victory for environmental protection. Gerald Warburgoffers the first political history focused on the battles to preserve the unique series of fragile ecosystems that surround San Francisco and the definitive study of exactly how Point Reyes was saved. Most accounts of this story only focus on the 1962 bill that created the PRNS on 53,000 acres of private lands just north of San Francisco. But that was just the first act in the saga. The passing of the bill only established the park in theory, and the government only controlled 123 acres at Point Reyes. In the months following the signing ceremony, all three of the House, Senate, and White House champions of the Point Reyes legislation died, leaving the PRNS without the leadership necessary to secure the funding to purchase the rest of the land. What followed was an epic public policy battle to save Point Reyes. Local grassroots lobbying organizations arose to advance the cause of PRNS and other environmental campaigns, and their victory in 1970 laid the foundation for future environmental activism. With this new funding, the PRNS expanded to over 71,000 acres, which then grew to 87,000 acres in 1972 with the creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The legislative bargaining and grassroots politics in the fight to preserve Point Reyes helped create a tipping point, profoundly altering the national environmental movement. Warburg’s deeply researched case study of NGO activism and congressional action is developed through a compelling narrative that offers specific lessons learned and hope for future environmental challenges, from climate policy to public lands preservation. "Compelling history, well told. Warburg argues, convincingly, that the fight for Point Reyes holds lessons for eco-activists today."— San Francisco Chronicle “Gerald Warburg has written a fascinating account of the personalities and politics that managed to come together, over a long period of time, to protect the magnificent seashore at Point Reyes. This well-researched and inspiring study makes a major contribution to the history of both California and national environmental policymaking and offers important insights into how to better protect our natural environment.”— David J. Vogel , professor emeritus of political science, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and author of California Greenin’: How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader “Gerald Warburg has written the definitive history of the titanic, and ultimately successful, struggle to preserve an irreplaceable seashore. Saving Point Reyes is a valuable account of the rise of the modern environmental movement as a formidable political force. Warburg captures the battle by which a determined coalition of preservationists prevails over the developers who viewed Point Reyes as a resource to be exploited rather than a national treasure to be safeguarded for future generations. A first-rate history of one of the most important public lands battles in the American experience that provides an accessible road map for how elected officials and community activists can collaborate to win lasting political victories.”— John A. Lawrence , author of Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership 2005–2010 “As a political science graduate student at Berkeley back in the 1990s, I visited Point Reyes countless times, never pausing to ask how this extraordinarily beautiful national treasure was conserved and protected from development. In Saving Point Reyes , Gerald Warburg not only offers a rich historical account of this remarkable victory, he also provides potent insights into how diffuse environmental interests are served in a political system that often discounts them. Warburg’s deeply researched, sophisticated account shows that no single factor is responsible for environmental progress. Instead, meaningful change occurs when grassroots coalitions, entrepreneurial leadership, issue framing, insider lobbying, political timing, and the evolving economic and electoral context converge to open new possibilities for governance. This is an insightful analysis of democracy in action that will captivate and engage students of politics and public policy for years to come.”— Eric M. Patashnik , Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy, professor of political science