Much bigger than a single tree

Dear editor,

The Register frequently publishes letters and articles about trees. Letters mourn the loss of street and park land trees. Articles discuss trees in the residential landscape or describe their imminent demise.

Meanwhile, industrial vineyard development in the hills above Napa proposes the removal of trees by the tens of thousands. Soon, approximately 1,200 acres of the former Walt and Circle S ranches will be converted to vines, roads, reservoirs and rock piles, with indirect and irreversible negative impact to an additional fragmented 2,600 acres. At Circle S, 13,849 trees are slated for removal. It isn’t quite that many at Walt (there are fewer trees to begin with) but the loss there will be equally significant. In the central Napa Range, many square miles of primitive chaparral and pine-oak woodland has been converted to vines in the past two decades. This proposed burst of vineyard development across the slopes of Atlas Peak represents an astonishing loss of our natural heritage.

The draft environmental impact report is complete for the Circle S proposal. The Napa County Conservation, Development and Planning Department, is accepting comment on the EIR through Jan. 9. The Walt Ranch EIR is in preparation. Call 253-4417 or visit www.co.napa.ca.us for complete information.

Murray Berner

Napa

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