Timber Vs. Grapes

<p>For the past decade, environmentalists and property owners have looked at the forested hilltops of northwestern Sonoma County and considered from sharply differing viewpoints the land's transformation into terrain for premium wine grapes.</p><p>Now the wrangling has begun over upcoming environmental studies that could determine the fate of what would be the largest timberland conversion project in the county's history.</p><p>The proposed 19,650-acre Preservation Ranch project is backed by a noted Napa County vintner and a $200 million investment in his company by the state's public employee retirement system.</p><p>The proposal would include planting more than 1,800 acres of vineyards on hilltops scattered across 30 square miles outside Annapolis.</p><p>Already the project has consumed roughly $5 million for consultants' studies, even though the official environmental impact report has yet to get under way. That report is expected to cost an additional $1 million to $2 million and could take two years to complete.</p><p>In an election year, Preservation Ranch has been cited by environmentalists as a project that must be fought and as a reason to elect a sympathetic candidate from the west county this fall to the county Board of Supervisors.</p><p>"This is a good place to draw the line in the sand," said Jay Halcomb, chairman of the Sierra Club's Redwood Chapter.</p><p>But a spokesman for the project's proponent, Premier Pacific Vineyards of Napa, said county officials and the public should await the results of the environmental report before reaching conclusions about Preservation Ranch.</p><p>Moreover, the developers claim that the vineyard project could be the best hope for restoring thousands of acres of forestland, for enhancing fish and wildlife habitat and for running a "carbon neutral" farm operation.</p><p>"I can't imagine a project that would have more public benefit than this," said Tom Adams, a spokesman for Premier Pacific, at his Napa office.</p><p>The land in question was heavily logged in earlier decades, and project developers said the property has little timber value because it could be years before it could be harvested.</p><p>The recent history of plans for the vast expanse is noteworthy in part for the participation of former county officials.</p><p>In 1999, a former owner proposed planting up to 10,000 acres of grapes across an even greater swath of the area's timberland. A project consultant was former west county Supervisor Ernie Carpenter, now listed as a principal endorser of west county supervisorial candidate Rue Furch.</p><p>In 2004, Premier Pacific purchased the nearly 20,000 acres for $28.5 million. Among the consultants for Preservation Ranch is another former west county supervisor, Eric Koenigshofer, a leading supporter of west county supervisorial candidate Efren Carrillo.</p><p>Carrillo said the burden is on Premier Pacific to show a public benefit, and he won't make up his mind on Preservation Ranch before the environmental report is completed.</p><p>"It's premature to give you a pro or con at this point when the studies have not been done," he said.</p><p>Furch, who is now a Sonoma County planning commissioner, could not be reached for comment Friday.</p><p>Premier Pacific was created by longtime Napa vintner William Hill, who previously developed and sold William Hill Winery, and Bay Area real estate investment firm owner Richard Wollack.</p><p>Their company has focused on creating high-end vineyards, some 30 properties in three states. The company also has obtained the $200 million investment from CalPERS, the state workers' retirement system.</p><p>One of its projects is a 27-acre vineyard and reservoir within the Preservation Ranch boundaries. The pinot noir vineyard didn't require a similar county review, Adams said, because the land previously had been an orchard with old homesteads, not timberland.</p><p>For the past 18 months, Premier Pacific and the county have been making revisions and reviewing the development application. Last month, the county deemed the application complete and sent out notices to 20 state and federal agencies and three dozen community groups.</p><p>The groups have until Sept. 8 to provide initial input. After that, another round of discussions will begin on exactly what the environmental report should study.</p><p>The developers propose to manage 15,000 acres of forest lands after planting 1 million new redwoods, Douglas fir and sugar pines.</p><p>Sedimentation into the Gualala River from old logging roads and landslides would be reduced, Adams said. Fish and wildlife habitat would be enhanced, and a 2,700-acre preserve would be established.</p><p>Nearly 100 of the 163 potential home sites would be eliminated by merging parcels, he said. The project proposes building farmworker housing for 35 families, but has no development plans for the roughly 60 parcels where a home could be allowed.</p><p>By approving Preservation Ranch, Adams said, the county would be "basically giving up some marginal timber ground on the ridge tops" for vineyards. In return it would allow the land's restoration "so it becomes the forest that everyone wants to see."</p><p>Leaders of environmental groups dismiss the suggestion that a vineyard project is necessary to bring about the restoration of timberlands.</p><p>The proposal would "forever change the forest out here and destroy a lot of it," said Chris Poehlmann, vice president of the Friends of the Gualala River.</p><p>Critics maintain that adding the proposed vineyards would remove trees that hold carbon from the atmosphere, reduce the capacity of the land to slowly release water to streams in summer and remove water for grapes from the aquifer and streams. Some also question how the region's winding back roads could accommodate trucks carrying the grapes at crush time from 1,800 acres of vineyards.</p><p>The project will be judged according to the county's timberland conversion ordinance, which allows vineyards among forests if the developer sets aside other land in permanent conservation easements and if the county deems the development offers an adequate public benefit.</p><p>Mike Reilly, the retiring west county supervisor who is backing Furch, said he has "serious concerns" about the Preservation Ranch project, and the benefits needed for approval should be "pretty significant."</p><p>The basic question, Reilly said, is "are folks willing to trade off redwood forests for wine?"</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com.</p>