“Plan to cut forest for vineyards faces opposition” – Associated Press

by Jason Dearen, Associated Press
June, 2011

[excerpt:]
. . .

“The premise that the vineyards serve as the economic engine for restoration is pure marketing and production forestry, with no[t] a trace of scientific analysis to support it,” said Peter Baye, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who lives in the area and opposes the projects. “Natural ecological succession is cleaning up the old damage by loggers very nicely, thanks. The vast majority of the land wasn’t damaged beyond self-repair at all.”

Long time resident Randall Sinclair looks out at vineyards in Annapolis, Calif. Sinclair, whose chief contact with the outside world is a rotary dial telephone, said it’s the first time in his 23 years in Annapolis that he’s felt compelled into political action.
(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

. . .

In the end, it’s the long-term environmental costs that concern the Annapolis residents, who claim the lasting damage will not create profits for these companies, only the vanity vineyards they want to make high-end wines.

“All of those who are concerned about the future of Sonoma County need to ask how we are allowing the destruction of redwood forests and Native American heritage to emerge as ‘business as usual,'” said Peter Schmidt, an anthropology and archaeology professor at the University of Florida who hails from the area, in an essay.

To read the entire article, visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Plan to cut forest for vineyards faces opposition

For additional information, see:

Artesa (“Fairfax”) vineyard conversion EIR
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) released in 2009 claims that the proposed destruction of 171 acres of coastal redwood forest to plant a vineyard would have no significant environmental or cultural impacts.

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

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…

Desecration of Pomo history
A first step toward satisfying the responsibility for Europeans and their descendants in North America would be to treat indigenous people with respect.