Voters in the heart of California wine country, by a slim, 42-vote margin, would restrict the planting of new vineyards in order to protect oak trees and waterways, according to the unofficial results of a Napa County referendum on Tuesday. The proposal pitted environmentalists against the wine industry and local agricultural groups.
The Napa County government website said an election-night tally showed 7,191 votes for and 7,149 votes against Measure C, the Napa County Watershed and Oak Woodland Protection Initiative. An official tally is expected later this week, said the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Measure C would sharply limit vineyard development in the [Napa] valley’s hillsides, essentially the only area left to plant,” said the Chronicle. The initiative would limit the removal of oak trees to a maximum of 795 acres; after that, a vineyard would need a permit to cut down oaks. New vineyards would also have to create wider buffers from streams and wetlands than now required. Activist Mike Hackett said, “Win or lose, the citizens of Napa Valley are standing up to big business.”
A county election official told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that thousands of ballots remained to be counted. “While the election essentially centered on water quality and woodland protection, both sides conceded the fate of Measure C would be influenced by the way voters view the wine industry and its impact on their lives. The results are being watched by activists in Sonoma County, who maintain more should be done to curb the impacts of winery tourism on rural residents.”
FERN did an award-winning story on the issue in 2016, when the measure was first being considered.