CATHY BUSSEWITZ THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, June 2, 2013 Wineries and vineyard owners have filed a flurry of applications to plant new vineyards and replace older vines in Sonoma County, even as the suitable land in the region has become more scarce. The rush to plant comes as the California wine industry is faced with aging […]
Read MoreCategory: Food Agriculture Impacting Water
Wine and water: In rural North County, all is not well
June 16 By David Sneed — dsneed@thetribunenews.com Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a five-part series. Coming Tuesday: At the center of the debate is the wine industry, which is both a major water user and an essential driver of the county’s No. 1 industry: tourism. On the surface, the rural parts of […]
Read MoreFarmers work to protect grapes, river levels
Steve Adler, April 24, 2013 Winegrape growers within the Russian River watershed came through the first night of freezing temperatures with flying colors last week, as their sprinkler diversions for frost protection of vulnerable spring vine growth resulted in very little drop in river flow levels. The issue involves farmers in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, […]
Read MoreCRWFS Releases New Report on Water: From Storage to Retention
November 2012 On November 13, 2012, the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply released its latest report, From Storage to Retention: Expanding California’s Options for Meeting Its Water Needs. The report builds on earlier work focused on agricultural water stewardship, and argues for an expansion of approaches to storing water that increase supply reliability […]
Read MoreUpdate on the National Water Census by USGS
April 4, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released a report to Congress on the progress of the National Water Census, which is being developed at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to help the nation address its critical water needs. “This update to the National Water Census—the first since 1978—will […]
Read MoreAction to Stop Approval of 2,4-D-resistant (GM) Corn
To All, USDA is poised to approve 2,4-D-resistant corn, the first in the pipeline of “next generation” crops. This and other herbicide-resistant crops will cause a dramatic surge in use of drift-prone chemicals ˆ placing the burden of both increased costs and health risks on farmers and rural communities. Join me in urging USDA to […]
Read MoreWeird and Frightening Effects of Fracking You May Not Know About
We know fracking has environmental and health damages, but there are other terrifying consequences. October 20, 2012 What comes to mind when you think of fracking? Perhaps it’s images of tap water being lit on fire or stories of families suffering health problems after nearby wells are fracked. Indeed, the health and environmental impacts of […]
Read MoreConventional Alcohol Farms are Hazardous to Your Health
By David Franklin The conventional wine industry has poisoned our rivers, wiped out wild species, reshaped mountains, caused wells to run dry, peppered our ag lands with chemicals that are poisoning us and our children and are now getting ready to hack down our forests for profit while the planet roasts from deforestation and climate […]
Read MoreRegarding PD Story on Frost Regs Ruling
Brett – thanks for the lead. I just saw the Ukiah DJ story (reprinted below). You should also contact Barbara Evoy at the SWRCB for her comments on this ruling. Who is doing the story for the PD? General comments, on background: (my comments for publication follow below): I will read the ruling and have […]
Read MoreMendocino County Judge Tosses Out State’s Frost-protection Rules
GLENDA ANDERSON & CATHY BUSSEWITZ THE PRESS DEMOCRAT September 26, 2012 A Mendocino County judge on Wednesday overturned controversial state water rules designed to regulate how grape growers in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties divert water from the Russian River. Judge Ann Moorman of the Superior Court of Mendocino County declared the law to be “constitutionally […]
Read MoreMendocino County Judge Invalidates State’s Frost Protection Regulations
Ukiah Daily Journal Staff September 9, 2012 Ukiah Daily Journal Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman ruled in favor of a group of local landowners who sued the California State Water Resources Control Board over new regulations affecting Russian River water used for frost protection in local vineyards. Moorman said that she agreed with […]
Read MoreRegarding GMO Farming and Glyphosate
To All, According to the California Pesticide Department (www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pur/purmain.htm ), in 2009 Sonoma County used 43,763 pounds of glyphosate and in 2010, 54,690 pounds in 2010, which is in line with national averages of increasing yearly amounts due to resistance from super weeds. Ag Commissioner Tony Linegar did support the use in some cases at our tech […]
Read MoreStudy Showing Salmonid Risk in Mediterranean Climate
Thank heavens for thesis’s. No one else would study this (ask this question), or come up with such a conclusion. Now, we just have to hang on to our educational system. Thanks Brock. Hello, Ted Grantham, who recently finished his PhD in my lab, wrote the attached newly published paper based on his thesis research […]
Read MoreWhy vineyards are extirpating our salmonids
Why vineyards are extirpating our salmonids. Jim Subject: Steelhead Trout Lose Out–Comments of Jim Doerksen in Opposition to the Response by the State Water Board, etc. The first item is a Press Release by U.C. Berkeley titled “Steelhead Trout Lose Out When Water is Low in Wine Country”. This press release is a synopsis of the attached second […]
Read MoreLawsuit Filed to Stop Clearcutting of Redwoods for Sonoma County Vineyard
SANTA ROSA, California — Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a controversial proposal by a Spanish corporation to clearcut 154 acres of redwood forest to plant wine grapes in northwestern Sonoma County. The Sierra Club’s Redwood Chapter, the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Gualala River sued the California Department of Forestry […]
Read MoreArtesa’s Hired Gun
Will Parrish on May 2, 2012 Artesa of Sonoma, a subsidiary of Spanish wine giant Codorniu, has a public image crisis on its hands, and on a scale few wine companies have ever encountered. Last year, the company received a spate of national media coverage concerning its plan to carry out the largest forest-to-vineyard conversion […]
Read MoreSteelhead trout lose out when water is low in wine country
Sarah Yang, Media Relations | May 7, 2012 The competition between farmers and fish for precious water in California is intensifying in wine country, suggests a new study by biologists at the University of California, Berkeley. The findings, published in the May issue of the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, link higher death […]
Read MoreState OKs Forest-to-vineyard Plan in Sonoma County
Brett Wilkison, The Press Democrat, May 8, 2012 The 324-acre site for a forestland to vineyard project stretches from the grass area to the redwood/ fir stand in the background at Artesa Winery’s proposed Fairfax Estate on the outskirts of Annapolis. State forestry officials on Tuesday approved a controversial timber-to-vineyard conversion project in northwest Sonoma […]
Read MoreFish and Game moving forward with frost protection
Fish and Game moving forward with frost protection Vineyard owners receive letters reminding them to comply despite court action By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN Updated: 03/30/2012 PDT Though proposed frost protection regulations have been put on hold, landowners along the Russian River received letters from the California Department of Fish and Game reminding them of their need […]
Read MoreComments on Low Dose Pesticide Risks
To All, Subject: [chescience] EHN/YaleEnviro360: Excellent summary of seminal Vandenberg/Colborn/Hayes/vomSaal/Myers paper on low-dose risks While this is centered on human health it is safe to assume there are similar impacts on the balance of the food chain. Who is looking? T Yarish Friends: the paper reviewed here by Vandenberg et al is a truly critical […]
Read MoreNews of Urgency for Planet Action Except in USA
(Try not to be discouraged please… please try to do a little bit more to help if you can manage it for Climate Resiliency or Recovery… I think we all find it hard at times… I certainly do. Courage… Let me know if I can be helpful please). Roni Thank you to Fred Krueger for […]
Read MoreA Report from the Soil and Water Conservation Society
Dear Interested public: One of the objectives of the growing community with respect to changes to Vineyard and Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance (VESCO) is to satisfy conditions of Reg’l Board’s Irrigated Lands waiver. Although the condition of our impaired water bodies and fisheries are the public’s business, the growers do not want the public […]
Read MoreSupport Tree Protection in Sonoma County, Tues., Jan. 31, 9 am
Forest Supporters, This Tuesday, January 31, at 9 am, please come to support a County “freeze” on any new vineyard and orchard development in Sonoma County until June 1st of this year. At that time, VESCO (Vineyard Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance) will be updated to incorporate tree removal protection language. This will be held in the Supervisors’ […]
Read MoreNapa growers give up land for salmon
TRACIE CONE Associated Press Along one of the San Francisco Bay’s most valuable watersheds, healthy salmon runs will soon coexist, at last, with cabernet sauvignon. The ambitious project to halt erosion in the heart of California’s premiere winegrowing region includes 40 landowners voluntarily giving up 135 acres of some of the most prized farmland in […]
Read MoreChopping Down Redwoods to Make Wine
Keith Goetzman November 14, 2011 Two California vintners want to cut down 2,000 acres of redwood trees and replace them with vineyards in the largest woodland-to-vineyard conversion in California’s history. Do I need to explain what conservationists think of this? Under the proposal, reported by the Los Angeles Times and later tipped by High Country […]
Read MoreAction Letter to Protect Our Waterways from Pesticides
To All, Pesticides in our waters, often overlooked, are a significant threat to wildlife and human health. Right now chemical and agribusiness lobbyists are trying to persuade Congress to gut the Clean Water Act and allow unregulated pesticide application. You can help turn back this toxic tide. Industry lobbyists are pushing a radical revision of our […]
Read MoreRRWPC Response to Supervisor Carrillo’s op-ed on Myths about Sandbar Plan
Press Democrat, By Brenda Adelman, October 26, 2011 Russian River Watershed Protection Committee (RRWPC) has closely followed Sonoma County Water Agency’s (SCWA) Estuary Management Plan process for many years. We are quite familiar with the issues addressed by Supervisor Carrillo in the Close to Home article entitled Myths about sandbar plan that ran on Oct. 18, 2011 […]
Read MoreLast tree standing will not be a tree
County land use agency again is at a loss to stop this high impact activity. It has taken days to carry this out and no one has stopped these guys. The message being sent by this in action is clear–we can do what we want, just try to stop me. Do we really think this […]
Read MoreGUEST OPINION: Clearing of trees exposes loopholes in county oversight
Trees were removed from a parcel on Highway 116 north of Sebastopol last week, triggering outrage from some neighbors and at least one county supervisor. Bulldozers scraped the trees off another parcel on Highway 116 north of Sebastopol last week for another vineyard. Supervisor Efren Carrillo has expressed outrage at this flouting of environmental rules […]
Read MoreRWB Requests Information for Developing Plan for Irrigated Lands
To All, This email is being sent on behalf of Catherine Kuhlman, Executive Officer of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board). Regional Water Board staff is developing a Water Quality Compliance Program for Discharges from Irrigated Lands in the North Coast Region (Program). More information on the Program is available online […]
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