In the Napa Valley, county government officials shot down a massive proposed winery near St. Helena last week after years of planning on the part of winery developers. The Vida Valiente estate, as proposed, would reportedly have boasted an 18,000-square-foot winery and 14,000-square-foot wine cave on an 18-acre plot along Crystal Springs Road, producing up to 30,000 gallons of wine a year and hosting around 120 visitors a week. But last Wednesday, after months of delaying their decision on the project, the county’s planning commissioners blocked it from moving forward with a 2-1 vote. This milestone moment happened after a contentious, two-and-a-half-hour meeting that raked in 350 pages worth of public comments. Commissioners argued they “couldn’t support having a winery with visitors along a narrow, subpar road with blind spots in a wildfire-prone area,” according to the Napa Valley Register. Another citizen at the meeting also reportedly spoke out about how “Bell Canyon Creek near the project site is an important stream for Napa Valley and its fish” and how he didn’t think the water analysis completed for the winery project was legit enough. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, an industry mag called Wine Spectator ran the latest trend piece — in a long line of similar pieces, including a recent one in the U.K.’s biggest tabloid, the Daily Mail — about a “growing number of Napa winemakers” who are reportedly “confused and frustrated at county officials who won’t let them do business — even when they follow the rules.” Vida Valiente starred as the story’s central example. From Wine Spectator: “Hayes Drumwright, founder of Vida Valiente and Memento Mori wineries, has been in a five-year battle with the county over building a winery home for Vida Valiente in rural St. Helena. Drumwright says he’s fulfilled all the required criteria, abided by all the rules and passed every necessary environmental survey, traffic study and more. He’s even received a thumbs-up from a public works official and fire marshal. Yet in a December 2023 hearing, he was still not approved to begin construction. ‘I know other wineries are going through the same thing,’ said Drumwright. ‘Save me my time and money if following these rules doesn’t matter.'” And he said all that BEFORE the actual “No” vote came down last week. County leaders, aware of this building narrative, have been arguing that their position “isn’t about being pro- or anti-agriculture,” the Register reports. Instead, they insist they’re trying to weigh each new vineyard and winery proposal individually, and make the right decision for both the valley’s local industry/economy and its long-term safety and sustainability. For what it’s worth, the county did announce with much fanfare that the “second-ever micro-winery use permit” in the Napa Valley was issued a couple of weeks ago, for the Chaix Family Micro-Winery in Rutherford. Which likely isn’t much of a consolation for the team behind the grandiose Vida Valiente pipe dream. (Source: Napa Valley Register & Wine Spectator & Press Democrat & Napa County Government)

One of Sonoma County’s most beloved traditions, dating back half a century, is underway in the rain out at the coast this weekend. The Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival has it all: a bounty of seafood and beer, bouncy houses, pony rides, the North Bay’s most popular and rockin’ cover bands, a water parade, a boat-building contest — the works. But there’s an undercurrent of doom these days in the North Bay fisher community that might dampen the celebration. That’s because federal officials are reportedly about to declare that no one will be allowed to catch any salmon off the California coast this year, for the second year in a row. This news comes after California’s crabbing season was cut short a few months early again, to protect whales and turtles that might get caught in traps and lines. This second annual ocean-salmon ban, on top of the repeated crab cutoffs, is a “crushing blow” — in the words of state politician Jared Huffman from San Rafael — to a state salmon industry valued at around $1 billion. And while many livelihoods are at stake, everyone does seem to understand why this is happening. Local salmon populations are in the pits right now, due to years of drought and low flows in local waterways — made worse, of course, by human diversions and dams. Dick Ogg, a Bodega Bay commercial fisherman and president of the Bodega Bay Fishermen’s Marketing Association, tells the North Bay Business Journal: “For nine months now, we’ll probably be without income. When you look at overall impact, it’s significant. Do we want the closure? Obviously, no. Is it necessary? Yes.” (Kenneth Brown, the owner of Bodega Tackle in Petaluma, tells the Los Angeles Times he has lost almost $450,000 in the last year alone.) So anyway, within the next week or two, state and federal officials are expected to make the official announcement about salmon fishing in the ocean — as well as another announcement about whether they’ll allow inland salmon fishing this year, in rivers and streams. Meanwhile, state politicians are urging President Biden to declare a “federal fishery disaster” so they can get relief funds into the pockets of locals who rely on fishing income to feed their families and pay their bills. Some $20 million in relief funds for LAST year’s salmon-fishing shutdown did finally just get distributed earlier this year, but officials like Huffman argue it’s not enough. On the upside: Many hundreds of millions more state dollars are being invested right now into restoring salmon habitats across California. There are also huge American-Indian efforts underway to introduce more salmon back into rotation, especially up north in the Klamath River area. More from a KRCB news radio report in mid-April: “In far Northern California, state fish and wildlife officials and members of four Tribal nations gathered on the banks of the Klamath, just below the Iron Gate Dam. They were there for the release of 90,000 juvenile coho salmon, following a tribal blessing. If you listen closely, you can hear a valve open, then thousands of baby fish plop into the chilly Klamath. For Kenneth Brink, vice chairman of the Karuk Tribe, the meaning could not be overstated. ‘This river is our church… and, that salmon is the cross on that church…’ Brink said. Fisheries officials released more than 400,000 fall run chinook salmon fry into the Klamath the following day. Philip Williams, a Yurok tribal council member, said he hopes this marks a watershed moment. ‘Tribal nations have been hopeless for a long, long time. With the dams coming down, all this collaboration with fish and wildlife, California, Oregon all coming together to revive this river, it restores that hope, hope in our government and hope in our people,’ Williams said.” (Source: CalMatters & CalMatters & Associated Press & KRCB & Bay City News via Patch & Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival & North Bay Business Journal & Los Angeles Times via Yahoo)

Have you heard that the Luther Burbank Rose Parade & Festival will return to the streets of downtown Santa Rosa this year, for the first time since before COVID hit? (Our Rose Parade is not to be confused with California’s other iconic Rose Parade — the one held each New Year’s down in Pasadena.) The revival of this century-old Santa Rosa tradition is scheduled for 10am on Saturday, May 18 — not next weekend, but the weekend after. And the parade’s grand marshal for its big comeback after a five-year hiatus will be none other than Sonoma County’s most famous comic-book character, Snoopy the dog. Or, I should say, an energetic person wearing a Snoopy costume! If you’ve never been to the parade: Picture 100-plus floats, marching bands and other lively configurations of human and vessel rolling down the half-mile stretch of Fourth Street between Brookwood and B, positively smothered in roses. We’re talking cars covered in roses; org names written in roses; roses woven into dresses, hats and flower crowns; actual rose bushes overflowing from flatbeds; etc, etc. The theme this year will be “Trek Thru Time” — so everyone will be repping different eras of Sonoma County culture, whether from the past, present or future. “We cannot believe how many community groups, businesses and individuals signed up to participate in this year’s parade!” organizers posted on Facebook back in March. “Our lineup includes a business who participated in the very first parade in 1894, a group made up of (young) people who weren’t even alive the last time a Rose Parade happened, an incredible amount of cool vehicles and lots of entries going all in on this year’s theme.” Here’s some more parade history from organizers: “Though the famed horticulturist Luther Burbank took part in the event as early as 1914, the annual tradition began in 1894 with the first Rose Carnival. It continued until 1926 when it was canceled due to Burbank’s death, shortly before the festival. A longer hiatus was observed during the World Wars. The Junior Chamber of Commerce ‘Jaycees’ revived the event in 1950, renaming it in honor of Burbank. It has been held every year since and always with a parade. Many elements have changed over the years. The original affairs offered the grandeur of coronation balls and the pageantry of royal courts; later versions offered regattas, bicycle and running races, fireworks and tennis. The parade, though, has always been the central activity.” The Historical Society of Santa Rosa recently posted some interesting old pics and newspaper clippings from the 1950s on Facebook, detailing a series of wild-looking sports-car drag races held as part of the Rose Festival back in those days. We won’t get any drag races this year, but there is a big free “community festival” after the parade at Old Courthouse Square, offering “family fun for ALL ages, local food and drink, live performances, and more” through 3pm that afternoon, according to the event website. “Think photo opps, old fashioned games, crafts, education, activities, all with a Sonoma County vibe.” (Source: Luther Burbank Rose Parade & Luther Burbank Rose Parade via Facebook & Historical Society of Santa Rosa via Facebook & Press Democrat)

Braving the rain today are the 20 or so anti-war activists who’ve been camped out on Sonoma State University’s “Person Lawn” for more than a week now — part of a global movement where students are “occupying” their college campuses as a way to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, as well as the involvement of their own nation and/or university. A protest-camp organizer at Sonoma State tells me they put tarps over all their tents and valuables last night, so they’ve been faring OK in the weather so far. If you want to support them, they created a Google doc with all the donations they could use, like “nutrient-rich foods” and umbrellas for both sun and rain. “As the encampment grows bigger and stronger, we continue to be inspired and fueled by all the community support,” they write in the doc. Protesters have they won’t budge until school officials “recognize Palestinian identity in academics, as with other ethnic and racial groups; agree to an academic boycott that would shut down study-abroad programs linked to Israel; and call for a permanent and immediate cease-fire,” according to the Press Democrat. While encampments at other California campuses like UCLA and UC Berkeley have been dismantled by police or attacked by violent counter-protesters, the scene at Sonoma State has been pretty peaceful. The main tension so far has been that the head of the university, President Mike Lee, wrote a public letter accusing protesters of anti-Semitism early on. “Some of the messages written in chalk on the sidewalk in front of the encampment are disturbing,” he said last Monday. In a response statement, one of the camp organizers denied this claim — then admonished the school president for “putting the students in harm’s way” by “opening them up to harassment and even violence.” The organizer encouraged anyone with differing views “to go speak with the students in the encampment and you will find they pose no threat, even if you remain on opposing sides.” By Thursday, President Lee did just that, according to the PD. “I went to go in and make sure that they are safe and healthy,” he told the paper. “I also let them know that their message is very, very loud and clear. I heard it. We have heard it.” However: He said some of their demands, like divestment, may be tough to meet, as SSU is one of 23 California State University campuses — so certain matters “would need to be dealt with at a higher level.” Meanwhile, the war in Gaza is about to hit the six-month mark on May 7; Israel has reportedly killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians in that time, as a response to an Oct. 7 attack from Gaza militants, during which they killed around 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds more as hostages. The anti-war movement here in the U.S. argues that Israel’s response has been outsized and inhumane, making Gaza essentially unlivable and starting a famine. Up until last month, the main tactic of our local anti-war movement had been to persuade small government entities to adopt ceasefire resolutions, in hopes of setting off a chain reaction up to the highest levels of government (aka, the White House). But that’s been an uphill battle; here in the wine country, only the City of Cotati has made the move. So in recent weeks, street protests have been ramping up in the North Bay and Bay Area — along with the rest of the nation and world — and now we’ve got these tent encampments, like the one at SSU. There was also some action in the form of a daytime protest 10 miles north at the Santa Rosa Junior College campus on Thursday, which drew a crowd of at least 200, according to the PD. President Biden did finally address the campus movement yesterday, urging protesters to resist causing “chaos” and ultimately saying their actions won’t affect his foreign policy. (Source: Sonoma State University & KRCB & Press Democrat & Press Democrat & Press Democrat & Sonoma County for Palestine via Facebook & SSU Students for Justice in Palestine via Instagram & SF Chronicle & LA Times & Desert Sun & Counterpunch & NPR)