Vineyards in the Gualala River watershed

News

Sonoma Co. freezes hillside vineyard conversions
"The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an emergency halt to new vineyards and orchards on forested slopes and hilltops."
January, 2012, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Public presentation on February 7
Petition opposing destruction of redwood forests

Friends of the Gualala River and supporters will present the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors with an 18 foot long copy of a petition with over 90,000 signatures opposing the giant redwood forest destroying vineyard conversion project, Preservation Ranch, on Tuesday, February 7.

Coalition asks CalPERS to withdraw Preservation Ranch proposal
Friends of the Gualala River has joined with national, California, and regional environmental organizations in asking the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to withdraw its controversial proposal to destroy nearly 1,700 acres of coastal redwood forest by clear-cutting and converting the area for new vineyards to produce wine grapes.

Moratorium would block some proposed Sonoma County vineyards
"Growing unease about a wave of vineyard projects that call for clear-cutting forested hillsides has Sonoma County officials calling for an emergency halt until new regulations are crafted."
January, 2012, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Vintage Capital
"When it comes to investing in wine, the old saw goes something like this: How do you make a small fortune from a vineyard? Start with a large fortune."
January, 2012, Financial Advisor magazine

Into the Woods
"Two proposed vineyard projects in remote areas of Sonoma County are drawing the ire of neighbors and environmentalists -- but can winegrapes preserve a redwood forest?" December, 2011, North Bay Biz

Is Premier Pacific Vineyards Dead?
"The Gualala River has already been battered by years of industrial logging and, more recently, intensive wine-grape cultivation. The destruction of so much redwood forest [by PPV's Preservation Ranch] would damage the watershed further, on a massive scale."
December, 2011, Anderson Valley Advertiser

Biggest forest-to-vineyard conversion in California's history
An interview with investigative reporter Will Parrish on KPFA's "Morning Mix."
December, 2011, KPFA Radio

CalPERS move puts Preservation Ranch on hold?
The California Public Employees Retirement System is severing its investment ties with a Napa-based vineyard management firm pushing one of Sonoma County's largest and most controversial land-use projects.

Codorníu's statement & our response
Following a tidal wave of negative publicity (over 125,000 signatures on petitions opposing their project), Codorníu issues a statement defending their project, and Friends of the Gualala River responds.

Petition opposing destruction of redwood forests
Please encourage our elected officials to help us stop Codorniu's Artesa Napa Winery and Premier Pacific Vineyards from destroying coastal redwood forest and Native American heritage for financial gain. 90,000 signatures so far!
Read and sign the petition!

"Pídele a Codorníu que no destruya los bosques para producir sus vinos" [Google translation:]
Ask Codorníu not to destroy forests to produce their wines
Over 40,000 people have signed a petition on Spanish website Actuable asking Codorníu [based in Spain] not to destroy redwood forest in Sonoma County to produce their wines. Read and sign the petition!

Artesa Vineyards & Winery
Artesa's Facebook page has a description of their vineyard "conversion" project in Annapolis, but it doesn't match what they say in their draft Environmental Impact Report.

Fall of the Redwood Empire
"Clearcutting for vineyards is nothing new in wine country. Can it be stopped?"
November, 2011, North Bay Bohemian

Fermented Fallacies
Debunking the myths of Preservation Ranch forestland vineyard development.

May we suggest a Pinot with that redwood forest?
"How much is a good Pinot worth? ...That Pinot, ladies and gentlemen, is going to run you around 1600-plus acres of freshly mowed-down Redwood forest. That must be some wine."
September, 2011, Huffington Post

Water Use by Vineyards Is Challenged
The dense forests of redwood, oak and Douglas fir that once covered much of Sonoma County have for many decades been giving way to pastures, orchards, subdivisions - and vineyards.
August, 2011, NY Times

Redwoods versus red wine
The redwood tree and the wine grapevine are both iconic in Northern California. Two wineries are petitioning the state to let them clear redwoods and Douglas firs to make room for new Pinot Noir vineyards. Environmentalists want the trees protected.
August, 2011, LA Times

Forest lands eyed for vineyards
"These vineyards are biological deserts. It's worse than a clear cut. This is permanent conversion from a natural landscape and it has its consequences."
July, 2011, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

People Who Belong To The Land
One of the greatest instances of harm ever wrought on the Kashia's ancestral land is on the verge of occurring. A pair of huge wine corporations have proposed two large forest-to-vineyard conversions in the heart of the people's ancestral homeland. July, 2011, Anderson Valley Advertiser

Global warming threatens North Coast vineyards
"Global warming could leave half of Napa Valley's famed vineyards unsuitable to grow premium grapes by 2040, according to the latest study to raise questions about the impact of climate change on California's wine industry." July, 2011, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

The Mendonoma Coast's Second Spanish Invasion
Spanish wine corporation Grupo Codorníu is accustomed to doing things in a big way. It is reputed to own a greater expanse of vineyard acreage than any wine company in Spain, which in turn has more land under grapevine cultivation than any nation in the world.
June, 2011, Anderson Valley Advertiser

Gualala vineyard conversions get national attention
June, 2011: "Plan to cut forest for vineyards faces opposition", an article by the Associated Press, appears in newspapers across the country, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Sacramento Bee, etc., as well as Salon, Huffington Post, Forbes and many others.

Coalition asks Spanish corporation to withdraw proposal to clear-cut coastal redwood forest for vineyards
Coalition letter to Codorniu Friends of the Gualala River has joined with 18 national, California, and regional environmental organizations in asking the international wine corporation, Codorniu of Barcelona, Spain, to withdraw its controversial proposal to destroy nearly 150 acres of coastal redwood forest by clear-cutting and converting the area for new vineyards to produce premier wine grapes.

Artesa timberland conversion Artesa ("Fairfax") vineyard conversion
CAL FIRE has released a Partially Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report, to address inadequacies in the Cultural Resources and Climate Change sections of the DEIR. Deadline for public comments was April 27, 2011.

Artesa timberland conversion Multinational targets the Gualala River
What if the third largest winery in the world, based in Spain, chose the recovering Gualala River watershed for a large vineyard project?

Artesa timberland conversion Artesa ("Fairfax") vineyard conversion EIR
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) released in 2009 claims that the proposed destruction of 171 acres of coastal redwood forest to plant a vineyard would have no significant environmental or cultural impacts.

Mega-vineyard begins quest for permits
Preservation Ranch map "Preservation Ranch" is the largest conversion of coastal forestland to vineyards ever proposed in California. If approved, it would transform the rugged and remote landscape of northwestern Sonoma County.

"Preservation" Ranch
Evans Ridge vineyard development on 'Preservation' Ranch The so-called "Preservation" Ranch is a 19,300 acre development in the heart of the Gualala River watershed. Premier Pacific Vineyards plans to destroy and fragment coastal redwood forest to plant grapes on the ridgetops - and call that "preservation."

Craig Bell "Vineyard development is a real threat" to recovery of Gualala steelhead, according to Craig Bell, and is "the last thing I'd want in my watershed." He argued that vineyard threats are cumulative impacts, not due to single vineyards in isolation, but the aggregate effect of many of them in the same watershed.

"Worse than a Clearcut"
The Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club produced a short video to educate the public and decision-makers about the proposed Preservation Ranch vineyard development project.

Preservation Ranch map Preservation" Ranch radio interview
A radio interview with Chris Poehlmann & Peter Baye, broadcast on Fred Adlers' "Coastal Interviews," The Tide, KTDE 100.5 FM, Gualala.

Peter Baye, Ph.D. Pomo heritage threatened
The Artesa vineyard project area is "very possibly the Kashaya Pomo village Kabatui" where "human remains may be present," and which contains rich archaeological areas that are eligible for listing in the National Registry of Historic Places.

Pomo elders Violet Parrish Chappell and Vivian Parrish Wilder Pomo elders speak out about vineyards
Where we used to live, no one can see anything now. It is time we open our mouths. Those vineyard people are interfering with our ancestors' area...

Peter Schmidt Erasing Native American history?
As an early morning mist filters through the Redwoods in the village of Annapolis in NW Sonoma County, a Pomo elder of the Kashia band walks through the forest toward an ancient settlement site...

Cornell Winery site on Mark West Creek - unpermitted grading, 2005 "The Wrath of Grapes"
How a Goldman Sachs executive is helping to kill Mark West Creek - and what the county isn't doing about it.
January 2011, North Bay Bohemian

Cornell Vineyards on Mark West Creek - unpermitted grading, 2005 "The Murder of Mark West Creek"
Out of control vineyard development by a Goldman Sachs executive devastates critical salmon habitat on Mark West Creek.
November, 2010, Anderson Valley Advertiser

Stop-work order on Pocket Canyon timber conversion Hobbs conversion
Sonoma County code enforcement officials inspect a 10-acre timberland conversion project near Pocket Canyon, just east of Guerneville, owned by winemaker Paul Hobbs.
May, 2011, Press Democrat

Luxury wine sales decline
Sales of luxury wines are declining, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Center for Biological Diversity logo Lawsuit Imminent Over Water Diversions
The Center for Biological Diversity, Northern California River Watch and Coast Action Group intend to sue the State Water Resources Control Board for authorizing water diversions that harm federally protected salmon and steelhead trout in the Russian River and Gualala River watersheds.

Annapolis Area Timberland Conversion Project
An environmental impact report is being prepared for the proposed Roessler & Martin vineyard conversions in the Annapolis area - since October 2006.

Upper reaches have water - and fish
Six years ago this section of Grasshopper Creek was filled with clay and fines; now it's boulder, cobble and gravel In Buckeye Creek, water is flowing continuously and steelhead are abundant - unlike the de-watered lower reaches of this summer's Wheatfield and South Forks.

Gualala River: Going, going . . . gone
8/31/08 Clark's Crossing - the last pool has shrunk, leaving only yellow-legged frog tadpoles gulping for air Channel pools in the Gualala River continued to diminish unevenly in late summer. The areas of strongest pool drawdown and dewatering are in the vicinity of water-demanding land uses (vineyards, gravel wells associated with mining and timber harvest, and commercial water trucking) adjacent to deep gravels.

Where has the water gone?
8/19/08 Wheatfield Fork Gualala River downstream of Haupt Creek In the summer of 2008, the Wheatfield Fork of the Gualala River dried up to small, isolated, shallow pools below the Annapolis Road bridge while the river's pools remained normal and stable upstream.

Water hits the road in Annapolis
Water trucks become a common sight in Annapolis during summer months as wells and reservoirs run dry in this water scarce area.

Summertime Dewatering: Slow but Sure Death to the River!
8/19/08 Wheatfield Fork near Clark's Crossing As summer progressed, more and more main-stem, downstream reaches have developed intermittent surface flows characterized by a series of slowly drying pools, or worse - up to hundreds of linear feet of stream without any surface flow at all!

Fluctuating water levels?
8/19/07 Wheatfield Fork Gualala River below Clark's Crossing, view upstream to Annapolis Rd Bridge. This summer (2007), water levels in the Gualala River adjacent to "vineyard alley" in Annapolis have been fluctuating up and down dramatically, killing young steelhead.

Pinot noir vines on Preservation Ranch "Timber Vs. Grapes"
Preservation Ranch project would include 1,800 acres of vineyards and promises to figure prominently in west Sonoma County supervisorial race.
- August 23, 2008, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

CalPERS vineyard venture attacked
A $100 million investment in vineyards by the California Public Employees' Retirement System is sour grapes to environmentalists, who claim the project violates the pension plan's own campaign against global warming. - August 5, 2007, Sacramento Bee

Disregard for environmental regulations
Local Mendocino newspaper (AVA) editorial account of a vineyard conversion in 1991, "William Hill: Scofflaw." An early precedent of William Hill, currently proponent of the "Preservation" Ranch vineyard conversion project in the Gualala River watershed.

Court rules EIR required for vineyard conversion
In Sierra Club and Friends of the Gualala River v. CA. Dept. of Forestry, the appellate court rules that "...there is substantial evidence to support a fair argument that thetimberland conversion project may have a significant effect on the environment, thusrequiring the preparation of an EIR [Environmental Impact Report]."

County can regulate location of conversions
FoGR urges Sonoma Supervisors to reconsider the County's general planamendments regarding forestland conversion to vineyards, in view of the recent landmarkdecision by the California Supreme Court.

Gualala River receives national attention
An AP article, "Environmentalists Fight Vineyards' Spread," published in the Washington Post, LA Times and dozens of other newspapers in January, 2006, focuses attention on the destruction of forestland to plant vineyards in the Gualala River watershed.

Leaving something behind doesn't mitigate environmental harm
Letter from an attorney representing FoGR to Sonoma County Supervisors exposes flaws in proposed timberland conversion ordinance. "To call this 'mitigation' is tantamount to saying that a developer can mitigate the destruction of a natural resource by not having plans to destroy all of it."

Reactive Regulation or Affirmative Land Use Planning?
Vineyard Conversions and the Fate of Coastal California Forestlands: The rising popularity and prestige of Pinot Noir wine is causing unprecedented and rapid changes of land use in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties.

Chainsaw Wine
Letter to the New York Times in response to a January, 2006 article in their Dining section,"Making Wine in a Hostile Climate on Sonoma's Coast."

Timber regulations go to Sonoma Supes
"Sonoma County has moved closer to regulating conversion of timberland to vineyards..." - An article from the January 27, 2006 issue of the Independent Coast Observer. See additional articles on timberland conversion from the ICO and other publications.

Protect the Forest
Letter to the editor of the ICO, by an owner of the Annapolis Winery, supporting forest protection and asserting that "Zoning must be clarified to create a clear definition what land is appropriate for forestland and what land is appropriate for agriculture."

Retail restoration and forest mitigation
Vigilant public participation will be essential to ensure that political and regulatory decisions about vineyard conversion, and its mitigation, are fully informed by rigorous public interest review, and scientific scrutiny.

Forestland-to-vineyard conversion near Annapolis, northwest Sonoma County We all live downstream
When it comes to water, we all live downstream. That's why the vineyard development that is eliminating the redwood forests of Annapolis is so important to the lower reaches of the Gualala River and its estuary.

Stop forestland destruction
Friends of the Gualala River joined the Sierra Club in a successful legal action to strike down the Department of Forestry's approvals of three forestland to vineyard conversion projects in the Annapolis area of northwest Sonoma County, CA.

Deforestation near Annapolis
Multiple projects proposed to convert forestland to vineyards in the Annapolis area of northwest Sonoma County, CA.

Vineyard conversions & Sonoma County General Plan
Sonoma County is considering the issue of converting forestland to vineyards as part of their update to the General Plan. Friends of the Gualala River supports the strongest possible protection for Sonoma County's remaining forests.

Grapes shouldn't replace trees
The Sierra Club urges the strongest protection for our forestlands so that future generations will never ask: "Why is Sonoma County part of the Redwood Empire?"

"Nature in a Bottle"
Article on vineyard conversions in the Gualala River watershed in northwest Sonoma County, published in the Spring 2005 issue of California Wild, the magazine of the California Academy of Sciences.

North Coast Watershed Assessment Program
Some areas of the North Coast have seen rapidly increasing agricultural activity, particularly conversion of grasslands or woodlands to vineyards. Such agricultural activities have typically been subject to little agency review or regulation and can pose significant risk of chronic sediment inputs to streams.

Chainsaw Wine protest
Coastal forest activists from Sonoma County unveiled their own vintage product in front of the "Pinot on the River" gathering in Guerneville on Saturday, October 30, 2004.

Terrain Magazine: Fall 2003 "Crush"
Article on vineyards and the environment, published in the Fall 2003 "State of the Grape" issue of Terrain, the magazine of the Ecology Center in Berkeley, California.

Water or Wine?
Converting forest lands to vineyards is destroying vital habitat and reducing water quality and quantity in the Gualala River watershed.

Forestry documents available on CD
A compilation of documents on the failure of the Department of Forestry to protect the environment is available on CD - useful in preparing comments on timber harvest plans and vineyard conversions.

Half ton of pesticides used in Gualala River basin in 2001
The Critical Habitat Project of the Center for Ethics and Toxics (CETOS) issues a detailed report on pesticide use in the Gualala River watershed, including both forestry and vineyard usage.

Conversion of forestland to vineyards
The ecosystems in the Gualala River watershed are under significant pressure. More than a century of logging operations has led to the buildup of sediment and gravel in the river bed, gradually destroying the river's capability to support coho salmon, steelhead, and other indigenous species.

Logging companies generally want forest to regenerate after harvesting timber, so habitat is eventually restored (after a very long time). When forest land is converted to vineyard, clear cutting is followed by complete removal of vegetation, resulting in total and permanent destruction of the forest ecosystem. The stripped land sends large quantities of sediment into the river and its tributaries.

Pesticide application on a vineyard in Annapolis To make matters worse, the chemical-intensive agricultural methods used by today's wine industry pose a huge risk to the total watershed environment. Large quantities of pesticides and chemical fertilizers expose all species that depend on the river for water -- including humans -- to dangerous poisons. Organic alternatives exist but are not widely employed.

Vineyard irrigation presents an additional challenge to water quality throughout the watershed. Retention dams capture rainwater to be used in the vineyards, decreasing the amount of fresh water in the river and the river flow. The subsequent over-pumping of wells to recharge reservoirs can lead to aquifer depletion and impair nearby residential water wells. Human residents downstream of the vineyards are understandably concerned. Stream diversions and surface water interception are also harmful to salmonids, greatly impeding flow and raising the temperature levels critical for their survival.

With the upward trend in economic value of the California wine industry, there are an increasing number of applications to convert coastal timberland to vineyards in the Gualala River watershed. Friends of the Gualala River and many other coastal residents are concerned that these conversions would do irreparable harm to the biological health and diversity of the watershed.

The Gualala River is already listed as impaired for both sediment and temperature under section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act. Much money, time, and energy is being spent by individuals, private groups, and State and Federal agencies to restore the watershed and endangered species. The proposed vineyard conversions would negate these efforts.

For more information

Other websites with information about vineyard conversions in the Gualala River watershed