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January 23,
2003, Rutherford, Napa Valley, Calif. — Vineyard owners
in the Rutherford, Napa Valley wine growing region have
begun an unprecedented stewardship program to restore four
miles of the Napa River which flows through the prized appellation.
The Rutherford Dust Society, an association
of vintners and growers founded in 1994, is coordinating
the public-private partnership to develop a long-range master
plan by late spring 2003. In November, work began to catalogue
existing restoration programs, to measure invasive exotic
species, and to map the Napa River's flow through Rutherford.
Late last year, the Rutherford Dust Society
Board of Directors voted unanimously to empower a subcommittee,
the Rutherford Dust Restoration Team (RDRT or "our
dirt"), to initiate a plan to manage and restore the
river. The sub-committee is co-chaired by John Williams,
president of Frog's Leap Winery and president of the Rutherford
Dust Society, and Davie Pina, owner Pina Vineyard Management,
LLC, also a Rutherford Dust Society Board member.
"To repair the main stem of the Napa
River, to restore its habitat, we needed owner commitment,
a holistic approach, and supportive government agencies,"
said John Williams. "So far, we have all three, which
bodes well for expanding the program to the tributaries,"
he added.
Vineyard owners are often discouraged from
pursuing their own restoration programs by the high cost
and time required to coordinate with as many as eight government
agencies who oversee such programs. "The Rutherford
Dust Society can aggregate all these projects under one
umbrella, which allows the group to coordinate work and
funding more efficiently and less expensively than any individual
land owner could acting independently. It's just doing the
right thing by business and the environment," said
Davie Pina. "Eighty percent of land owners along the
river have provided funding and access rights during this
first phase, and there's no reason to believe we won't get
the final 20% in the next few weeks," he added.
"The way this organization has hustled
to launch their program has been astonishing," said
Stephen Rae, environmental science consultant to Napa County
and owner of Musci Natural Resource Assessment. "The
fact that the land owners have provided signed access agreements
and financial commitments in advance is rare. It typically
happens the other way around."
The initial phase of the project commenced
in November at an estimated price of $52,000. The goal is
to produce a master plan this spring that is based on a
comprehensive analysis of the overall health of the Napa
River as it flows through Rutherford. Research includes
cataloguing bank erosion, understanding the area's ecological
history, mapping the prevalence of native and non-native
species and Pierce's Disease host species, measuring water
flow and flood potential, understanding the scope of existing
restoration projects, and initiating the grant application
process for this ambitious project.
The Rutherford Dust Society has hired Ellie
Insley of Ellie Insley & Associates to coordinate the
project. Subcontractors include Philip Williams & Associates,
LTD. (PWA) to develop the Conceptual Restoration Design
plan, Napa County Resource Conservation District to conduct
the fish habitat survey, and Napa County Flood Control to
perform Arundo donax mapping.
The Rutherford Dust Society will continue
to provide updates on the program to interested journalists.
Please call Jeremy Benson, executive director, at (707)
254-1107. The Society will also post information at www.rutherforddust.org.
About The Rutherford Dust Society
The Rutherford, Napa Valley appellation is both the geographic
and historical center of grape growing in the Napa Valley.
Approximately six square miles, the appellation includes
27 wineries and over 63 grape growers. Vintners and growers
founded the Rutherford Dust Society in 1994, whose mission
is to encourage and promote the highest quality standards
in grape growing and wine making in the Rutherford Viticultural
Area, and gain recognition for this quality through education
of the membership and public.
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