Enviro Updates – Page 236

SuzanneMarch 7, 2012Water, Wildlifefisheries, salmonLeave a comment

Salmon win in 9th circuit court

San Francisco Chronicle editorial board, SFGATE.COM
California salmon and salmon fishermen won in federal court Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said the federal water project is obliged to provide enough water to double the salmon population. You can read the decision here.
Under the ruling, only surplus water from the bay-delta water system can be delivered to water users in the San Joaquin Valley, not water from the 800,000 acre-foot allotment promised to fish under a 1992 federal law.
for more, see Salmon win in 9th circuit court | Opinion Shop | an SFGate.com blog.

SuzanneFebruary 14, 2012ForestsArtesa Winery, forest conversion, Friends of the Gualala River, redwoods, vineyardsLeave a comment

Petition to Cal-Fire: Stop clear-cutting redwoods to plant vineyards

Tell the California Department of Forestry (CALFIRE) to suspend certification of Artesa WInery’s Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and allow public comment on relevant changes in circumstances and impacts.
Public comment is needed now more than ever because of Sonoma County’s brand-new moratorium on vineyard conversions and the urgent reasons for it – all of which are completely censored in the public record for Artesa!

Read and sign the petition Stop Clear-Cutting Redwoods to Plant Vineyards

Link to today’s PD article: Artesa’s controversial timber-to-vineyard plan nears approval

SuzanneFebruary 9, 2012Wildlifeendangered species, salmonLeave a comment

Wild salmon are not holding up, study finds

by Rachel Nuwer, NYTIMES.COM
Since 1964, the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery in California has supplied the watershed with four to 10 million juvenile Chinook salmon each year. The hatchery began the practice as a way of countering the effects of dams that block migration and making sure that the salmon population remained viable. But recent research shows that the massive influx of hatchery-raised fish is masking the fact that wild fish populations are not holding up.
“Without distinguishing hatchery from wild fish, the perception is that we have healthy salmon surviving in a healthy river,” said Rachel Johnson, a fish ecologist affiliated with the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the lead author of a new paper published in the journal PLoS One.
via Wild Salmon Are Not Holding Up, Study Finds – NYTimes.com.

SuzanneFebruary 8, 2012ForestsBoard of Supervisors, forest conversion, Friends of the Gualala River, Preservation Ranch, vineyards, wineLeave a comment

Activists protest Preservation Ranch at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting

By Cathy Bussewitz, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Dozens of environmental activists adorned with branches and dressed like fluffy redwood trees demonstrated outside the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to protest a proposal to convert nearly 1,800 acres of coastal forests to vineyards.
Photo Galleries
Preservation Ranch Protest
A man costumed as an eight-foot tall bottle of “Pinot Egrigio” labeled “Chainsaw Wine” wielded a fake chainsaw before the animated trees.
“It’s a Sonoma County vintage,” said Dave Jordan, volunteer with Friends of Gualala River, a group that carpooled down from Gualala to Santa Rosa to attend the meeting. “It’s not against wine. It’s not against vineyards. It’s about cutting down redwood forests to plant grapes.”
via Activists protest Preservation Ranch at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting | PressDemocrat.com.

SuzanneFebruary 7, 2012Local OrganizationsAgricultural Preservation and Open Space DistrictLeave a comment

Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District 3-Year Work Plan

Thursday, February 9, 2012 @ 5:00 pm
The Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa
A joint public meeting of the Open Space District Fiscal Management Commission and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee will be held at which District staff will present a draft overview of the District’s 3-year work plan. Following refinement and approval from the District’s Board of Directors, the plan will guide the District’s priorities, staffing and funding allocation for 2012 through 2015 to ensure that the diverse mission of the District is achieved during the life of Measure F.

SuzanneFebruary 7, 2012Forestsforest conversion, Preservation Ranch, vineyardsLeave a comment

CalPERS vows to push giant Preservation Ranch vineyard project

Brett Wilkison, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
CalPERS, the giant state workers pension fund, has ended several months of uncertainty by signaling to Sonoma County that it intends to move forward with a huge, controversial timber-to-vineyard conversion project near Annapolis.
Called Preservation Ranch, the project would clear up to 1,769 acres of forest for wine grapes on nearly 20,000 acres in northwestern Sonoma County.
via CalPERS vows to push giant Preservation Ranch vineyard project | PressDemocrat.com.

SuzanneFebruary 7, 2012Local OrganizationsSCCC, Sierra ClubLeave a comment

36th Annual Sonoma County Environmental Awards Dinner

Saturday, Mar. 3, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Sebastopol Veteran’s Auditorium • 282 S. High Street, Sebastopol
Paloma Pavel, President of Earth House Center and Exec. Dir. of Breakthrough Communities, will speak on Building Healthy, Just & Sustainable Communities in the Face of Climate Change. There will be a silent auction and raffle and a gourmet dinner.
Tickets are $40, $50 after 2/20 at www.envirocentersoco.org
Benefits the Sierra Club and Environmental Center of Sonoma County
A zero-waste and low impact event Please carpool!

SuzanneJanuary 31, 2012ForestsBoard of Supervisors, forest conversion, VESCO, vineyards

Supervisors vote 5-0 for moratorium on ridge-top tree removal

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 0 to put in place a moratorium on ridge-top tree removal for vineyards. This issue will come back to the Board on April 24 with the ag commissioner’s recommendations for changes to VESCO, the Vineyard Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance.

SuzanneJanuary 30, 2012September 22, 2018Local OrganizationsSCCC

Nominations needed for the 2012 Sonoma County Environmental Awards

2012 Sonoma County Environmental Awards
Sponsored by the Sonoma County Conservation Council
Nomination form and list of previous awardees and nominees:
www.envirocentersoco.org/awards or http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DW9DSBB
Here is your chance to pay homage to the Sonoma County environmentalists and programs whose work you most respect – especially those that are not well known. Though the nomination form is available via email and regular mail, we request you submit nominations via the web site listed above. You will need contact information for your nominee plus a paragraph or two on why you think this person or program deserves to be honored. The nominations deadline is 2/6/2012.
Portia Sinnott, SCCC Awards Committee Chair (2002-2012)
Executive Director of LITE Initiatives, lite@sonic.net, www.liteinitatives.org

SuzanneJanuary 30, 2012ForestsBoard of Supervisors, forest conversion, VESCO, vineyardsLeave a comment

Support a County moratorium on tree removal for vineyards

Hearing Tuesday, January 31

Please attend the BOS meeting this Tuesday, 9 am, to support a County “freeze” on any new vineyard and orchard development until June 1st. At that time, VESCO (Vineyard Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance) will be updated to incorporate tree removal protection language.

The meeting will be held in the Supervisors’ Chambers, Room 100A,

575 Administrative Drive, Santa Rosa at 9:00 am.