North Bay Business Journal

  • Growers gear up to fight new frost rules

    January 16th, 2012

    Local growers in the Russian River watershed in Mendocino and Sonoma ounties, titled Russian River Water Users for the Environment, filed a lawsuit against the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) on Oct. 20 in the Sacramento Superior Court for an unprecedented regulation targeting winegrape growers’ use of water for frost protection purposes.

  • Frost-pond bill passes; regulators float frost-water rule

    September 12th, 2011

    The Legislature passed a bill by two North Coast state legislators that would streamline permitting of small irrigation ponds that could be tapped for frost prevention, rather than streams deemed habitat for protected fish. Meanwhile, state water regulators released the latest revision to a Russian River basin frost-water regulation more than three years in the making.

  • Frost-pond bill bound for governor

    August 31st, 2011

    The Legislature today passed a bill by two North Coast state legislators that would streamline permitting of small irrigation ponds that could be tapped for frost prevention, rather than streams deemed habitat for protected fish.

  • Workshops to help Russian River watershed growers comply with June 1 deadline for mandatory frost-water registration

    March 24th, 2011

    The Sonoma County Winegrape Commission will be hosting weekly meetings in March, April and May to assist growers with the mandatory registration for all Russian River Watershed grape growers who frost protect with water.

  • Sonoma County to delay frost-water monitoring until 2012

    February 8th, 2011

    The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this afternoon is set to consider a significantly revised timeline for implementation of newly adopted county rules for use vineyard and orchard frost protection with water, pushing the start of formal stream-flow monitoring to early 2012.

  • Supervisors set to consider final rules for frost fees

    February 7th, 2011

    SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is set to consider final details for the recently adopted Sonoma County Vineyard and Orchard Frost Protection Ordinance before growers are required to start registering their water-based frost-fighting systems on March 1.

  • Sonoma County frost ordinance fee hearing postponed

    January 28th, 2011

    SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has postponed until Feb. 8 a hearing on final details for the recently adopted Sonoma County Vineyard and Orchard Frost Protection Ordinance before growers are required to start registering their water-based frost-fighting systems on March 1. However, county staff did unveil proposed fees for registration, monitoring Russian River watershed streamflow during frost protection and reporting the results to state water regulators.

  • Deadline looms for frost plans

    January 17th, 2011

    NORTH BAY — Getting winegrape growers up to speed quickly on Sonoma County’s new ordinance on use of Russian River Basin water for frost protection will be a hot topic of a major viticulture seminar in Santa Rosa this Thursday.

  • Supervisors move forward with revised frost-water ordinance

    December 8th, 2010

    SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 5-0 to proceed to a final vote at next week’s meeting on a draft frost-protection water use ordinance, despite warnings from several conservation groups today to slow down the process and make it more “transparent.”

  • Sonoma supervisors to consider reworked frost rules today

    December 7th, 2010

    SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this afternoon is set to consider reworked local rules for use of well and stream water for frost protection in parts of the Russian River Basin deemed key habitat for protected fish.

  • Wine: Ground-breaking Fetzer study measures carbon

    November 15th, 2010

    A new study of carbon sequestration on 1,322 acres of Fetzer Vineyards vineyard and wild land in Mendocino County could make the chemical element a huge resource for the wine industry under California’s evolving greenhouse-gas emissions accounting system.

  • Study estimates impact of proposed frost rules to top $2B

    November 1st, 2010

    SONOMA AND MENDOCINO COUNTIES — The impact of proposed state rules controlling the use of Russian River basin water to protect winegrapes and other crops from frost damage could exceed $2.1 billion from lost business income, tax revenue, land values and 8,000-plus jobs in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, according to a new study by a Sonoma State University economist.

  • Growers, regulators craft methods to manage frost water

    March 8th, 2010

    GEYSERVILLE — Winegrape growers that depend on water in the Russian River Basin to protect their vines from frost assert they have a better idea of how much water they’re using and how to limit such use, while wildlife regulators say they’re getting more precise information of water overuse and tools to curtail it.

  • Environmental groups threaten suit over water for grape frost protection

    December 14th, 2009

    NORTH COAST – Three environmentalist groups say they will sue state and federal regulators next month if they don’t take action on use of Russian River Basin waterways for agricultural frost protection and irrigation, activities the groups claim is harming threatened and endangered fish. Loss of water for frost protection would deal a serious blow [...]

  • Growers prepare for watershed moment at frost meeting

    November 16th, 2009

    SANTA ROSA – A coalition of farming trade groups and major winegrape growers in Mendocino and Sonoma counties plans to demonstrate the state water regulators at a meeting Wednesday that growers have made significant recent progress toward protecting fish while protecting their vines from frost, despite a new letter from federal fish wardens to the contrary.

  • Wine: Feds pump $5.7 million into reservoirs

    July 27th, 2009

    Winegrape growers facing severe restrictions on how much frost-protection water they can tap from waterways key to spawning protected fish will have some federal funds to help build ponds to store winter rains or install water-saving equipment.

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