Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
Friends of the Gualala River and supporters protested and presented the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors with an 18 foot long copy of the 90,000-signature petition opposing the giant redwood forest destroying vineyard conversion projects,Preservation Ranch and Artesa Winery / Annapolis, at the supervisors’ public meeting on Tuesday, February 7, 2012.
An 8 foot high walking “Chainsaw Wine” bottle complete with chainsaw, tree-costumed people and an 18-foot long banner outside the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers in Santa Rosa.
After the protest, environmentalists
presented the petition to the Supervisors:
click to enlarge
Preservation Ranch Petition
| by Bruce Robinson KRCB Radio’s North Bay Report |
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.
Although the Preservation Ranch proposal has been moving through the county’s planning and permitting process for several years, former Sonoma County Planning Commission member Rue Furch observes that it has been only recently that critics have been effectively calling attention to the project and its downsides.
Preservation Ranch is by far the largest, but not the only sizable vineyard conversion project proposed for the hills above the Gualala River. Two other projects have also been slowly advancing, and Chris Poehlmann, President of the Friends of the Gualala River, is rallying resistance to them as well.
Listen to the report on KRCB’s website:
Preservation Ranch Petition.
Activists protest Preservation Ranch at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting
| by Cathy Bussewitz February 7, 2012 Santa Rosa Press Democrat |
[excerpt:]
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.
A man costumed as an eight-foot tall bottle of “Pinot Egrigio” labeled “Chainsaw Wine” wielded a fake chainsaw before the animated trees…
The group brought a petition they said had 90,000 signatures from people around the country who oppose Preservation Ranch, a project connected to the California Public Employees Retirement System. The petitioners gathered signatures online through the website Change.org…
| To read the entire article, visit the Press Democrat: Activists protest Preservation Ranch at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting. |
More photos
Stop Wineries from Destroying Redwoods
Chainsaw Wine threatens Redwoods
Don’t buy Chainsaw Wine / Redwoods not Grapes
Chris Poehlmann with 8-foot tall wine bottle
Chainsaw Wine
The Green Man – “the trees speak for me”
Petition banner unfurled in the Supervisors’ Chambers
Photos courtesy of Brock Dolman and Kimberly Burr
For more information, see:
Public presentation on February 7
Petition opposing destruction of redwood forests
Friends of the Gualala River and supporters will present 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 project, Preservation Ranch.
Artesa (“Fairfax”) vineyard conversion EIR
CAL FIRE released the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Artesa Winery’s plan to clear-cut 154 acres of coastal redwood forest to plant a vineyard in Annapolis. The EIR states that the project will have no significant environmental or cultural impacts.
“Preservation” Ranch
The so-called “Preservation” Ranch is a 19,300 acre development in the heart of the Gualala River watershed. Premier Pacific Vineyards plans to destroy and fragment coastal redwood forest to plant grapes on the ridgetops – and call that “preservation.”
