Proposed Calif. water regulations pit salmon protection against Sonoma County vineyards

Grape growing, fish protection clash in California

HEALDSBURG, Calif. — Grape growers in Northern California’s cool, fertile Sonoma County wine region are stomping mad at a new plan to limit the water that vineyards can pump from local rivers and streams to protect crops from frost.

The proposed regulation is meant to safeguard coho salmon, a species on the brink of local extinction.

Vineyard acreage in Sonoma County has increased 30 to 40 percent during the past decade.

And when overnight temperatures drop below freezing in the spring, grape growers spray river water onto the vines to create a protective shell that encases young grapes.

But environmentalists and fisheries officials say vineyard pumping has dropped creek levels on more than one occasion, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of coho and other fish.