"Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it."

News

State approves Artesa forest-to-vineyard project in Annapolis
"State forestry officials... approved a controversial timber-to-vineyard conversion project in northwest Sonoma County, following through with a decision expected months ago."
May 8, 2012, Press Democrat

The Gualala River needs YOUR help
We have garnered a lot of press recently (see Gualala River in the News, below), but the watershed needs your help more than ever. Please see yourself as a member of our team, all of us united in resolve to hold on to the promise of recovery for these abused but recovering forests and waters.

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Artesa Winery Deforestation Project

What price one more bottle of wine?
Recently, when I stepped out of our chapel, the sun had just risen. A piercing cry of a mountain lion came out of the redwood trees that may soon be cut down. Probably the lion was only looking for a mate, as his ancestors have been doing for centuries. But as our neighbor, a Kashia Pomo spiritual elder, said to me a few weeks back about a similar situation, "He is crying over the loss of his home."
Brother Tolbert McCarroll, Starcross Monastic Community

Sonoma County timber-to-vineyard conversion headed for approval
"State officials signaled this week they intend to approve a controversial timber-to-vineyard conversion project in rural northwest Sonoma County, overruling the latest wave of objections, this time from some neighbors, local tribes and several elected officials." April 2012, Press Democrat

FoGR asks Codorniu to withdraw their proposal
Friends of the Gualala River again asks Codorniu of Barcelona, Spain, to withdraw its controversial Artesa Sonoma proposal to clear-cut ~150 acres of coastal redwood forest for new vineyards to produce wine grapes. April 2012, FoGR

Artesa: Clear-cut old growth redwood trees or destroying redwood forest?
Artesa wants to correct the supposed newspaper mis-statements that they plan to clear-cut old growth redwood trees, but we can't find ANY articles that say that. We're opposed to their plan to destroy redwood forest.

Coalition asks Spanish corporation to withdraw proposal to clear-cut coastal redwood forest for vineyards
Friends of the Gualala River has joined with 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 wine grapes.

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?

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 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...

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...

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 Environmental Impact Report.

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. Over 92,000 signatures so far! Read and sign the petition!

Protest at Board of Supervisors meeting
Friends of the Gualala River and supporters presented 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 projects, Preservation Ranch and Artesa Sonoma.

"Preservation" Ranch

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

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.

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

Mega-vineyard begins quest for permits
"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.

"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.

Other Vineyard Conversions

Draft rules out on hillside vineyard tree removal in Sonoma County
"Sonoma County grape growers aiming to convert forested hillsides with neat rows of vineyards will have to prove their projects won't damage local waterways under draft regulations released Thursday." April 2012, Press Democrat

"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

"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
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

Gualala River in the News

Interview with Friends of the Gualala River
Several members of FoGR are interviewed by award winning radio producer Peggy Berryhill on KGUA 88.3 FM. Topics include the proposed "Preservation" Ranch and Artesa Winery vineyard conversions. February, 2012, KGUA Radio

Artesa's controversial timber-to-vineyard plan nears approval
"A project that would clear up to 146 acres of forest for vineyards in northwest Sonoma County is nearing state approval."
February, 2012, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Preservation Ranch Petition
"Backers of a huge mountaintop vineyard conversion project in far northwestern Sonoma County called it Preservation Ranch. Opponents call it a bad idea, and have found tens of thousands of online petition-signers who agree."
February, 2012, KRCB North Bay Report

Activists protest Preservation Ranch at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting
"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."
February, 2012, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

CalPERS vows to push giant Preservation Ranch vineyard project
"CalPERS 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."
February, 2012, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Sonoma County 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

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

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

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.
October, 2011, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

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
"Plan to cut forest for vineyards faces opposition", an article published 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.
June, 2011, Associated Press

Other Topics

Gualala River Watershed Council
People sometimes confuse Friends of the Gualala River (FoGR) and Gualala River Watershed Council (GRWC) - two very different organizations. Here's a comparison. Who do you support?

Gualala River Forest Conservation Easement
The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved funding a conservation easement for a 14,000 acre parcel in the Gualala River watershed at its meeting on September 13.

Retaining wall above the estuary?
Destroying coastal bluff, native vegetation and the Gualala Bluff Trail for a project that hasn't even been reviewed makes no sense, and violates California law. Coastal Commission hearing on the proposed retaining wall project has been postponed.

Wave energy project off the Gualala coast?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has canceled permits issued to the Sonoma County Water Agency for investigation of wave energy projects off the Sonoma Coast, including one offshore of Gualala and the Sea Ranch.

Gualala River Steelhead Studies
"Preserving any sizeable steelhead population in the river into future decades will require preserving and protecting summertime stream flows from reductions caused by a myriad of developmental activities, including grape vineyards." - Ten Years: Ten Revelations

Tribe buys coastal forest in Humboldt County
"The Tribe has long sought the return of ancestral land to create a salmon sanctuary and restore tribal cultural management practices, which benefit fish, wildlife and the ecosystem as a whole," Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O'Rourke said.

Your rights to access and enjoy CA streams & rivers
The beds and banks of California streamcourses below mean high water are subject to the California State Lands Commission's policies on public trust. Public trust uses include, among others, ports, marinas, docks and wharves, buoys, hunting, commercial and sport fishing, bathing, swimming, and boating.

"Psst... Groundwater and Surface Water Do Mix"
An article published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters describes a new and simple way of measuring groundwater's contribution to small streams on the surface.
- NYTimes, February, 2011

Gualala River photo tour
A photo tour of the Gualala River watershed, showing its natural beauty as well as damage caused by unsustainable human activity.

No fireworks over Gualala estuary without permit
The Gualala Festivals Committee canceled their controversial plans to detonate fireworks over the Gualala River estuary in 2008, after the California Coastal Commission ordered them to cease and desist. In March, 2010, the Court of Appeals upheld the Commission's jurisdiction.

Gravel Mining in the Gualala River
Many criticisms and recommendations Friends of the Gualala River (FoGR) has issued inpast public comments appear to be matched by NMFS findings and opinions. The NMFS biological opinion resulted in negotiations that modified the gravel miningpermit application, and significantly improved environmental protection, monitoring andregulatory agency supervision, and mitigation.

Expand Gualala Point Park
The choices we make now and the actions we take will determine what type of river our grandchildren and their grandchildren will inherit.

Unauthorized diversion by North Gualala Water Co.
NGWC has pumped water from its wells near the Gualala River during low flow periods in violation of its permit for many years, which could reduce critical habitat for threatened coho and steelhead, according to the State Water Resources Control Board. Update: June, 2009: Settlement Agreement reached.

North Coast Stream Flow Campaign
The Gualala River, once famous for steelhead and coho salmon fishing, is now choked with sediment from logging and depleted of flow by expanding wineries.

Foundation Grant Boosts Fundraising Effort
Friends of the Gualala River has embarked on a drive to raise$35,000 to engage scientific and legal experts in its efforts topreserve the quantity and quality of water in the Gualala River. Thefund-raising received a welcome boost with the award of a $5,000grant from the Rose Foundation.

Video

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

Rivers of a Lost Coast
Rivers of a Lost Coast is a new documentary that looks at our relationship to nature through the eyes of the most fabled angling community in American history. This surprisingly touching film was recently labeled a must see by the San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Times. Narrated by Tom Skerritt.

California's Lost Salmon
Because of a sharp decline in their numbers, the entire salmon fishing season in the ocean off California and Oregon was canceled in both 2008 and 2009. At no other time in history has this salmon fishery been closed. - KQED Quest

Measuring Redwood Giants
Forest ecologist Steve Sillett is leading a team of scientists as they climb and measure every branch of some of the last and tallest old growth redwoods in California. - KQED Quest

River otter in the Gualala River
Short video taken by a friend of the Gualala River, just west of the Green Bridge, near the confluence of the North & South Forks, in July 2009.

Legal cases

Protecting old growth redwoods
Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Gualala River and Coast Action Group file a lawsuit to protect the last remaining stand of old growth redwoods in the northern part of the Gualala River watershed from logging.
See: Press Release

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.

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]."

Court upholds jurisdiction over Water Co. wells
Appeals Court rules that the State Water Resources Control Board has jurisdiction over the subterranean water flows under Elk Prairie, where the North Gualala Water Comapny's wells are located.

Court upholds denial of floodplain logging plan
The Superior Court of Mendocino County upholds the California Board of Forestry's denial of a timber harvest plan in the floodplain of the Gualala River because it was likely to cause harm to endangered coho salmon.

Court tells CDF to prepare vineyard conversion EIR
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, because CDF had approved the projects without the thorough analysis of environmental impacts required by law.

Friends of the Gualala River
PO Box 1543, Gualala, CA 95445

email:  info@GualalaRiver.org