Napa Valley Register
by Barry Eberling – Updated Nov 20, 2016
People waged the Walt Ranch battle in the Napa County Board of Supervisors chamber and on the street.
County supervisors on Friday opened what will be a multi-day hearing on the proposed vineyard project. Walt Ranch involves creating 209 acres of vineyard blocks amid 2,300 acres in the mountains between the city of Napa and Lake Berryessa.
Opponents and supporters packed the Board chambers and spilled into overflow areas where they watched the proceedings on television. They had the chance to make their cases to supervisors.
But opponents also took their case to the public. About 100 of them at noon stood in front of the county administration building holding up signs reading “clean water” and “no chainsaw wine.“
What’s so bad about Walt Ranch? Elizabeth Bosch of Napa doesn’t like the idea of removing thousands of oaks to make room for vineyards.
“You can’t replace a watershed,” she said as she …
image credit: J.L. Souza