Big Wine | Club appeals Gallo's proposed clearcut near Soledad

In our ongoing effort to protect wildlife habitat and special-status trees, the Ventana Chapter has appealed the Monterey County Planning Commission's approval of a huge irrigation reservoir near Soledad. The winemaking giant owns a 2,100 acre ranch, about 8 miles southwest of Soledad, which includes open grasslands, upland chaparral, and oak woodlands.

The proposed 8.4-acre reservoir would require cutting 321 mature native oaks and impact the nearby wildlife corridors. The Club is calling for the county to require an alternate site analysis for the reservoir structures, and to uphold its tree protection ordinances which require minimizing the number of trees to be cut. U.S. Fish and Wildlife has also raised several concerns about Gallo's threatened and endangered species studies.

The Sierra Club's appeal echoed the concerns expressed about this project by the Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, which does not believe the plan to replace lost trees with saplings will replace the habitat value and loss of biomass from this clear-cutting. Ecosystem services provided by mature oaks include cover and food for wildlife, soil enrichment, increased water absorption, and slope stabilization.

The Club is joined in its concerns about this project by the United Farm Workers. They are challenging Gallo on the environmental impacts, their labor practices and the project's benefit to the wine industry in Monterey County. Together, we are calling for Gallo to be both a good steward of the land, and a good employer.

Also, a local TV station, KSBW has done several editorials against us and I faxed them this letter today which you can also use: To Mr. Heston of KSBW TV,

I am writing to you to clarify the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club’s interest in the Gallo winery proposal. We believe that Gallo could expand and be a good steward of the land but so far, they have chosen not to. In Sonoma, they incurred huge fines for harm their activities caused the environment.

We are simply calling for them to do better here. Contrary to how some have tried to portray this development, it is not simply a vineyard expansion, nor a basic farming project. It is an 8-acre, 350 acre foot reservoir, dam and bypass channel, carved into an important watershed. The Sierra Club is asking Gallo to consider a less destructive location for the site for the proposed project and to provide valid information to the agencies charged with protecting wildlife.

We are further requesting that our Board of Supervisors hold Gallo to the law and as well as to the winery’s own promises.

If you would like to review a more independent source for a summary of the concerns Sierra Club and others have for this project, consider the Coast Weekly article in the issue published on January 15.

Very truly yours,

Rita Dalessio, Chapter Chair