REDWOOD NEEDLES

Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES

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Napa hillsides

By Chris Malan, founder of Concerned Citizens for Napa Hillsides

For the past four years Napa County has seen tremendous conversion of hillside watershed lands to monoculture agriculture. The valley floor has long ago been converted to agriculture. Agri-business was able to rezone our county watershed in the early 1980's to allow agriculture in the forests even though farming is not suitable in these soils and on these slopes. Hillside agriculture is dramatically transforming our watersheds and altering surface hydrology and groundwater resources. Second growth redwood, Douglas fir and oak woodlands are vanishing from our hillsides. Chaparral that is rich in species and is used by many forest animals for foraging is falling under the bulldozer blade at a rapid pace.

The Environmental Protection Agency lists the Napa River as a priority watershed for restoration and clean up efforts due to sediment, pathogen, and nutrient pollution. Agricultural land use practices are listed as a primary, historic problem for the Napa River. Coho salmon is believed to have disappeared from our river in the 1970's. Chinook salmon is thought to be all but gone and steelhead was listed as threatened in 1997. The primary reason for the anadromous fish decline is due to destruction of spawning gravels. Clear cutting our hillsides, ridgetops and riparian zones has caused fine sediments to move into our natural waterways smothering spawning gravel and altering the river channel. Also, loss of tree canopy and other riparian vegetation has altered the ambient and water temperature necessary to sustain important aquatic animals and insects.

After a hillside vineyard fell into Bell Canyon Municipal Reservoir in 1987 the Napa County Board of Supervisors voted for a hillside ordinance that was originally intended to conserve and protect habitat and prevent damaging erosion. The Board of Supervisors caved in to pressure during the public hearing process and passed a weakened hillside ordinance which does almost nothing to protect hillside habitats. Current hillside agriculture land use practice is extremely damaging to the natural environment. These practices are causing disastrous cumulative impacts that Napa County agencies and politicians have been unable to cope with.

The current hillside ordinance calls for restrictions on steep slopes over 30%. But the ordinance is full of loop holes. Attorneys and engineers are quite capable of convincing the planning commission and board of supervisors that cultivation of steep slopes can be successfully engineered.

The majority of Napa hills are slopes between 15&endash;30%. Unfortunately, slope averaging is allowed on erosion control plans and developments that are not over one acre contiguous 30% slopes. These slopes can be converted from forest to vineyard without a public hearing. Consequently, we are seeing vast swaths of forested lands harvested and deep soil ripping for conversion to vineyards. During deep soil ripping, the land is ripped open 3&endash;5 feet deep, destabilizing the slope and causing erosion.

Most erosion control plans require drainage tiles installed under vineyards to capture surface water and channel it into nearby streams and creeks. This increased rate of flow is causing riverbank failure and erosion down stream. Erosion control plans do little to nothing to prevent fine sediments from entering the natural watercourses. These fine sediments alter the river bottom and contribute to the destruction of salmon and steelhead spawning gravel.

In January 1999, the Napa Board of Supervisors &emdash;pressured by requests for a hillside moratorium&emdash;approved $100,000 to convene a Watershed Task Force to make recommendations for changes to the Hillside Ordinance. Unfortunately, the board-appointed Task Force was heavily influenced by agri-business and engineers who out numbered conservationists. The Task Force met weekly for 5 months but failed to come up with substantive changes for the ordinance.

Recommendations were offered to the Board of Supervisors such as increased enforcement, more scientific study, and an ongoing watershed alliance. However, current enforcement cases are usually mitigated and restoration rarely occurs.

Concerns regarding other hillside protection efforts

Sonoma County is in the process of passing a hillside ordinance which would allow development of slopes up to 50% as well as averaging of 50% slopes. The U.S. Agricultural Commissioner has stated that it is unreasonable to cultivate slopes over 30%.

Sonoma County's proposed riparian setbacks are a minimum 25&endash;50 feet from the top of the bank. 100- & 150-foot setbacks are considered the minimum protection zones for sustaining and possibly restoring aquatic life based on extensive U.S. scientific research.

In the mean time it becomes increasingly difficult to see our forested lands succumb to clear cuts, deep soil ripping, terrible environmental damage, loss of biodiversity, hillside flooding to down stream neighbors, fine soil erosion, and altering of hillside hydrology.

Some say it may be too late to do anything. Erosion can take hundreds of years to move through a watershed before it reaches the bay estuary. Anadromous fish may become a distant memory. We may only be able to show pictures to our grandchildren and dream of when our creeks and streams ran silver with steelhead as they leaped and jumped their way to the headwaters.

Can we really afford to eliminate species, allow polluted water to be acceptable, and settle for damaged watersheds? History tells us that we need all the parts of the puzzle of life in order to sustain ourselves. We must strive to find solutions to our greedy consumption of land.

What you can do

• The Watershed Task Force must complete its mission. Write letters to the Napa County Board of Supervisors. Ask them to re-convene the Task Force.

• Report erosion via the county hotline number: 253-4416 ext. 3

• Contact Chris Malan for more information: 255-7434

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