By Julissa McKinnon, Register Staff Writer
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Sometimes saving future generations of fish can be as easy as letting the grass grow.
So in one Yountville vineyard, the decree has gone out: No more spraying or cutting in ditches. For years to come, winter weeds will be welcome, said Ryan Leininger, a viticulturist who manages this vineyard for Foster's Wine Estates.
That's because grasses naturally filter out sediment from rainwater running off the vineyards, into ditches and eventually into the Napa River -- sediment known to harm endangered populations of Chinook salmon and steelhead.
It's one of the many lessons Leininger has put to use through the "fish-friendly farming" certification program. Besides helping the fish, leaving the ditch weeds alone has cut down on mowing and spraying costs, he said.
"Working with Mother Nature is a lot easier than trying to resist it," said Leininger, summarizing a central fish-friendly farming philosophy
.
The fish-friendly program emerged in the late 1990s as a grass-roots effort among growers and environmentalists to save the salmon in the Russian River, but also to help farmers meet various environmental regulations issued by a slew of government agencies. Instead of federal regulators dictating rules, it's mostly growers teaching growers. The program took root in Napa Valley in 2002, and to date about 17,000 out of the valley's approximately 45,000 acres of vineyards have either earned fish-friendly farm certification or are working toward it.
Participants take classes and work with technical experts to assess the farm's natural resources, land layout and farming practices. Together they come up with a conservation plan -- erosion-reducing projects tailored to a particular property. Toward the end of the program officials from the state Department of Fish and Game, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Regional Water Quality Board size up properties to see if they meet fish-friendly standards.
Debby Zygielbaum a viticultural assistant at Robert Sinskey Vineyards, said besides upping a farm's environmental standards, the program also helps land managers get the lay of the land.
"It really helped to get a full assessment of our ranches," said Zygielbaum. "We have ranches spread all over Carneros. We had all the information in various places and now we've put it all in one binder."
Some of the changes required for fish-friendly certification are effortless, but others take work.
Robert Sinskey Vineyards decided to upgrade its roads, after the program brought to light that a lot of dirt roads in the vineyards were causing erosion. A recent water quality control board study said dirt roads around the county are a significant contributor to excess sediment in the Napa River watershed.
"Dirt roads are one of the biggest sources of fine sediment in California," said Laurel Marcus, one of the fish-friendly program founders. "Farmers have an economic interest in soil conservation, that's what they make their money off of. So they're conserving the basis of their business."
Sometimes cleaning a vineyard's run-off demands sacrifice.
Remi Cohen, the vineyard manager of Bouchaine Vineyards in Carneros, decided to pull out about an acre's worth of vines in low-lying areas. No more vines means no more tilling or tractors, and much less soil run-off. Now only grasses will grow there, straining run-off before it flows into the marshes of San Pablo Bay.
"The grapes in low-lying areas usually aren't the best quality, and we feel good that our vineyard is being environmentally responsible," Cohen said. She also lauded the educational aspects of the program.
"They instruct you on how to make your vineyard's footprint invisible in the watershed. So the water flows naturally through your vineyard, as it would flow over the contour of the land if the vineyard wasn't there," Cohen said.
So the water's cleaner, where are the fish?
Bill Cox, a district fishery biologist with the DFG said expecting a huge comeback of fish only a few years after changing century-old habits is unrealistic.
He pointed out that sediment build-up has been happening in local creeks and rivers for years -- filling up the spaces between river rocks that are crucial to the salmon's life cycle. In these cool, shady cracks salmon lay their eggs. Once hatched, the salmon hide from predators in these tiny spaces -- usually no more than half an inch to an inch-and-a-half in width or depth.
"What we tend to want to believe is, 'OK, we have this program and three years from now the salmon will be coming back to the Napa River by the thousands. But the truth of the matter is it will be a long slow process," Cox said. "Its been 150 years we've been creating the problem. We can't flick a switch now and solve the problem. But what we know for certain is if we don't start now we'll never get there."
While the end-goal of cleaner, clearer rivers may be decades away, other rewards for growers gaining their fish friendly certification are fast approaching. Within the next year, the program will devise a way -- be it a label or some other sign -- by which growers can advertise their products as "fish-friendly."
"The grape growers wanted to have the program working and functional before they started advertising. We haven't done the PR first and the substance second, for us it was vice versa," Marcus said.
Zygielbaum said Sinskey decided to go for the fish-friendly farming certification because it seemed a natural extension of some of the other environmentally conscious practices they were pursuing as a certified organic and certified biodynamic vineyard. But she added the vineyard won't overlook the certification's marketing potential. She called the move toward healthier lifestyles "a movement in America."
"When you consider marketing your brand, you have to stand out from the crowd," she said. "Right now organics is one of the fastest growing market shares, and everybody's jumping on the bandwagon now because people are usually willing to pay a premium."
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2005/11/20/news/local/iq_3173112.txt