As new vineyards spread from the crowded Napa Valley floor to the hillsides, environmentalists have succeeded in getting enough votes to qualify for the June 5 ballot that aims to protect the county’s watershed and oak woodlands by placing restrictions on the number of trees cut down.
The Watershed Protection Committee, authors of the initiative, say expansion or creation of new vineyards into oak and other woodlands in California’s premier winegrowing region is adversely affecting fish and wildlife.
The Oak Woodland Protection Initiative would establish buffer zones along streams to protect water quality and limit destruction of oak woodlands, they say.
The initiative garnered 6,300 petition signatures, more than the 3,800 needed, and on Jan. 30, the Napa County Board of Supervisors is set to consider placing it on the ballot, adopting it, or ordering more study of the issue.
Opponents of the measure, however, are taking issue with part of the initiative that states that after 795 acres of oak woodlands in the valley have been removed, they must be replaced at a 3-to-1 ratio.
The initiative has recently come under fire from the Napa Valley Vintners, which represents more than 500 winemakers. Although the vintners group initially collaborated on the creation of the initiative, earlier this month its board of directors voted to oppose it.