Napa Valley Register - Napa River restoration begins a new phase Upvalley

After 13 years and $21 million, restoration of 4.5 miles of Napa River banks in the heart of Napa Valley is complete, offering improved habitat and reducing flood damage.

Federal, state and local leaders celebrated the accomplishment Thursday as they prepared to launch phase 2: 9 miles of bank restoration from Oakville to Oak Knoll costing another $21 million.

Almost 100 people turned out for the by-invitation morning event along the rivers bank at the Opus One Winery in Oakville, including Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St Helena.

"This river is part of what makes Napa County the iconic landscape that it is," said Samuel Schuchat, executive officer of the California Coastal Conservancy. "I strongly believe this is the future of river restoration in California."

Jared Blumenfeld, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, praised how local people are putting aside their own agendas to restore the river. The restoration's effects go beyond the county, he said.

"We live in the Bay Area," Blumenfeld said. "But the bay doesn't exist by itself. All the rivers and streams that flow into it are the lifeblood of the bay."

Napa River restoration and flood control is most visible within the city of Napa, with the flood control bypass excavation being the latest project. The rural restoration effort Upvalley is going on where the river is bordered by private vineyards and is harder to glimpse by the general public.

More than a decade ago, vineyard owners in the group called The Rutherford Dust Society started the effort. The result is the newly completed Rutherford Reach project between Zinfandel Lane and Oakville Cross Road.

Twenty-eight landowners participated in the $21 million project. The county's Measure A flood control sales tax provided $12.5 million, with federal and state agencies contributing $7.9 million. Landowners gave up 30 acres of vineyard land worth an estimated $9 million and agreed to pay a maintenance assessment.

Davie Pina of the Rutherford Dust Society and Pina Vineyard Management has seen a difference with wildlife along the river. He's seen beaver dams and ospreys and Swainson's hawks.

"Things are coming back, and we are doing the right thing around here," he told the gathering.

Constellation Brands' Franciscan Oakville Estate Vineyard is among the next target river restoration sites.

The river at the vineyard is narrow with steep banks that are eroding, said Matt Ashby, director of vineyard operations. Blackberries and other non-native plants growing there can be home to the blue-green sharpshooter, which spreads vine-killing Pierce's Disease.

Starting perhaps in June, workers will try to recreate the Napa River of old, before it was tamed and stuffed into a narrow channel. Once again, it will have flood terraces with native vegetation that will be good habitat for wildlife, but not the sharpshooter.

Franciscan Oakville Estates will give up 1.8 acres of some of the best vineyard soil in the world for the wider river. But, Ashby pointed out, riverfront land was being lost to erosion over time and Pierce's Disease poses a problem.

"We're going to have a more sustainable vineyard," he said.

How a reconfigured, wider river will handle floodwaters remains a question mark. Ashby said the dormant vines in the winter are not harmed by the water. He saw 214 acres go underwater in the flood of January 2006 with little damage, though his office suffered damage.

Launce Gamble of Gamble Ranch is also participating in the project. He said once the river left its banks in past floods, the water couldn't return to the narrow channel.

"It's hard to tell where we are because we haven't flooded in awhile," he said.

It seems like a dream scenario – a project that helps river habitat and also benefits landowners. But that's how people at Thursday's restoration celebration described the effort that might ultimately cost close to $42 million in federal, state, local and private money.

More grants will have to be found for the Oakville to Oak Knoll project. At some point several years from now, another celebration could take place marking that restoration project's conclusion.

"We can't make this river perfect and we can't roll the clock all the way back," Schuchat said. "But we can make the river the best it can be."