Creek Restoration in the Spotlight

In addition to contributing to the health of the Napa River, our restoration of our portion of Chase Creek has also become something of a demonstration project.

Chase Creek is a tributary of the Napa River that runs through our vineyards. In November, Warren Winiarski hosted a group of about 125 county planners from all over California who wanted to learn about restoration and agricultural conservation efforts. The planners were in town for a symposium on agriculture in ecologically sensitive areas, and our project was chosen as an example of a positive response to environmental issues.

In July, Warren's son, Stephen, led a tour of the project for U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture William Hawke. The undersecretary was in Northern California to discuss conservation programs for farming communities with regional officials and was accompanied by a contingent of California agriculture commissioners.

Undersecretary William Hawke, Stephen Winiarski, and Napa County Agriculture Commissioner Dave Whitmer.

It isn't only government officials who are interested in the project. In 2004 we will begin bringing students from local schools to visit the creekside lands and learn firsthand about the importance of the watershed and the complexity of the valley's ecosystem.

Children from Napa's Blue Oak School visited in January and planted trees and shrubs along the creek bank.

Chase Creek is one of dozens of tributaries that feed the Napa River. Our restoration project seeks to undo the effects of erosion, preserve old-growth trees on the creek banks, and make the waterway once again a healthy environment for steelhead trout and other wildlife. To achieve those goals, we've engaged Bioengineering Associates, a Northern California firm that specializes in restoring damaged terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems using live plants as the basic building blocks of the restoration process.

"My earliest memories of Chase Creek are of exploring in and along it, looking for frogs and eating blackberries on summer days," Stephen Winiarski says. "Now it's a great pleasure to be able to give back to the creek. The creeks and riparian corridors provide habitat for more biodiversity in the Napa Valley than vineyards alone can provide."

This fall the restoration's first phase was completed, comprising the portion of the creek that runs along the FAY vineyard. Living "mattresses" of willow were laid down to protect the creek banks. Nearly 200 tons of rock were placed, often by hand, to create protection for tree roots and direct water flow to reduce siltation and erosion. The second half of the project, for the portion of the creek that runs along S.L.V., will be completed this year.