Renew America Success Stories

Huichica Creek Stewardship

Description

In Napa, California, the Huichica Creek Stewardship is a watershed management and resource planning project in which profitable agricultural businesses are working to restore the local watershed.

The project, which involves 63 landowners and more than a dozen organizations, is unique because it is the landowners who are driving the project, participating in initiatives that will both help protect natural resources and preserve agricultural profitability. This pilot program is currently focused on the restoration of riparian and wetland habitats within a 20-acre commercial agricultural vineyard, owned by the Napa County Resource Conservation District.

The program had its start in 1988, when a working group of landowners and public resource agency representatives convened to discuss ecosystem management and formed the Huichica Creek Land Stewardship. The Huichica Creek Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Project was launched soon after to demonstrate to agricultural landowners the advantages of engaging in sustainable agricultural practices, including the cultivation of native grass cover crops, the implementation of non-point source pollution reduction measures, the planting of native shrubs and trees for beneficial insect habitat and the initiation of "bio-engineered" streambank erosion control programs.

The Huichica Creek Stewardship owes its success to the collaborative nature of the project. A genuine partnership between private landowners and government agencies was achieved and recommendations for sustainable land use were developed based upon the needs and goals of the landowners and agencies involved. Often, regulations simply flow from preordained practices and programs. "It's a beautiful thing," says Zach Berkowitz, vice president of vineyard operations for Domaine Chandon. "Rather than the government telling us what to do, they help us manage ourselves."

The strength of the partnerships in developing this program is also evident in the success the project has had in changing the way people think about the watershed as a whole. Through educational programs for landowners, schoolchildren and organizations, watershed residents have come to recognize the stewardship initiative as a land ethic in which conservation measures must be based on the recognition that human communities, animal communities and plant communities are all part of a single system and the activities of one community can have profound effects on the others.

Prior to the start of the Stewardship initiative, Huichica Creek suffered from channel degradation, overgrazing, soil erosion and loss of native trees and shrubs. Restoration activities include putting up fences to keep livestock out of the creek channel, clearing and snagging to remove debris, cover cropping to reduce erosion and changing the direction of tillage operations on fields adjacent to the creek.

Program Highlights

Cover Crops

• Rather than "discing up" the soil every year to keep plants and weeds from growing between grapevines, growers are now planting a permanent ground cover of native grasses.
• Native grass ground cover prevents nuisance plants from taking hold, reduces erosion and encourages a varied insect population, which helps prevents domination by one type of insect.
• Reduced erosion and pesticide use helps keep dirt and chemicals from entering the Creek and destroying natural habitat.

• Roosts have been built throughout the area to lure flying predators. Hawks, falcons and owls eat gophers, voles and rabbits, reducing the need for poison.
• Four thousand native trees have been planted as habitat for birds of prey. Trees also help prevent erosion and provide shade to keep the Creek cool, helping steelhead trout survive. Approximately 10,000 - 15,000 more trees will be planted over the next five years.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Huichica Creek Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Project is part of the Huichica Creek Land Stewardship initiative, which is administered by the Napa County Resource Conservation District. More than 63 landowners in the watershed and numerous agencies and organizations, including the U.S. Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Environmental Protection Agency, are cooperating on the project.

Budget: This project does not lend itself to an easily quantified budget. The stewardship approach to watershed management essentially consists of landowners and managers simply doing things differently, rather than accomplishing a laundry list of best management practices. Napa County Resource Conservation District has budgeted $165,000 for particular stream enhancement projects for 1996, which largely comes from water quality grants from EPA. The landowners, however, are contributing vastly more each year through the money they spend to maintain their households, vineyards and ranches in the course of a typical year.

Community Served: The residents of the Huichica Creek watershed.

Measures of Success:

Groundwater flow and downstream creek flow have increased.

Sediment runoff has decreased.

Overall water quality has increased.

Wildlife populations, including natural predators such as foxes and birds of prey, have risen.

Use of pesticides has declined.

Success stories designed by Mark Nowak

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