Napa RCD Monthly Newsletter

Helping you care for our land, water, soil, and wildlife

This Month's News

Program Spotlight

Bulk Sediment Sampling in the Napa River Watershed- What is it?

News & Announcements

First in a Series: Welcome to new Associate Directors!
It's Irrigation Evaluation Season and We're Here to Help!
Irrigation Water Management Workshop- English & Spanish
Impacts of Dry-Season Grazing on Fuels Reduction & Native Plant Communities
Napa Parks and Rec Foundation Benefit

In Case You Missed It

Summer Binge Watching- Local Workshops

Upcoming Programs

See below for details

Program Spotlight

Bulk Sampling in the Napa River Watershed-

What is it?

Napa RCD staff are wrapping up year two of a six-year project in the Napa River Watershed focused on monitoring water quality through bulk sediment sampling. This effort supports compliance with the Vineyard General Permit issued by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board). We thought we'd share a little bit about what we’ve been up to these past few weeks and why it matters to fish and watershed health.

What is Bulk Sediment Sampling?

It's a process! First, staff went out on foot and in kayaks during the rainy season in 2021 and surveyed where they thought the sampling should occur. They needed to find a number of sites that fill certain criteria: are they in the range of steelhead or Chinook, does the area contain potential salmonid spawning habitat, is it accessible for staff, and is the landowner willing to grant access.

This year, Paul and Martin (Napa RCD's Environmental Scientists) went out to the sites, made sure they were suitable and met the criteria, and dug sediment samples out of the dry riverbed or a nearby dry area. What they dug out was then placed on tarps to dry completely for several days before they worked the material through a series of 7 sieves that get finer and finer. Each of the different sizes of sediments (from each of the sieves) were then weighed in the field, with the smallest sediments collected to be sent to a lab for further analysis. At the lab, the finest sediments will again be sieved, but into much smaller sizes ranging from 5.6mm all the way down to less than 1mm.

Why do we do it?

Because someone has to! Napa RCD developed the monitoring plan in tandem with the Water Board for the Napa River and Sonoma Creek Watersheds. This work is part of what is called the Vineyard General Permit, which outlines Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) of sediments that can be released into the Napa River watershed. The idea is to evaluate the condition of the streambed in areas that provide spawning habitat for steelhead and/or Chinook salmon. The Napa and Sonoma County Farm Bureaus are coordinating this group water quality monitoring program on behalf of all vineyard owners within the two watersheds.

By doing this bulk sediment sampling for two years, we get a baseline of what the sediments look like in different sections of the Napa River Watershed. Then we stop the monitoring for four years to allow sediment supply reduction efforts (what we call Vineyard Best Management Practices (BMPs)) to take effect and hopefully prevent soil erosion and sediment delivery to streams. We also need time for high flows during several rainy seasons to transport and sort sediments.

What are we hoping to do with the data?

This data will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of Vineyard BMPs in reducing sediments released into the Napa River. If the sediment levels are found to be rising even with the BMPs in place, the Water Board will impose stricter regulations to protect the spawning habitat of steelhead and Chinook salmon.

Throwback to the design of the sampling protocols, with Jonathan Koehler working with Paul Blank!

News & Announcements

First in a Series: Welcome to New Associate Director Lauren Winczewski!

We recently welcomed a few new Associate Directors to our Board, and we'd like to extend a welcome over the next couple months! First up, Lauren Winczewski!

Lauren is a tenured Professor of Psychology at Napa Valley College. Her passion for conservation began when she moved to California and was moved by the majesty of the region’s trees. She obtained her PhD in Psychology at UC, Santa Barbara, where she conducted empirical research on the social psychology of close relationships. At Napa Valley College, Lauren supports students pursuing research and internship opportunities in STEM. She is committed to connecting Napa RCD and Napa Valley College in an effort to build career pathways for students interested in conservation and environmental science.

It's Irrigation Evaluation Season and We're Here to Help!

Napa RCD has funding available to do irrigation evaluations on agricultural lands here in Napa County. These evaluations are free due to grant funding and focus on measuring the distribution uniformity of irrigation water applied throughout the vineyard.

Why get an irrigation evaluation from Napa RCD? First, the evaluation is free! Second, the results help growers easily identify opportunities to improve water use efficiency and performance of their irrigation systems and vines. All it takes from the grower's end is about 4-6 hours of field assistance to do the evaluation and walk through the report.

Interested in having us come out to do an evaluation?

Contact Miguel@NapaRCD.org or 707690-3122

Irrigation Water Management Workshops-

English and Spanish!

Irrigation Water Management Workshop - English

Friday July 22nd 8:00am-11:30am.

$15 - Registration Required

During this workshop we will talk about soil properties that affect water movement and retention and the role of soil health in irrigation water management. We will also discuss how to use available technology to develop irrigation management plans: how to determine ideal irrigation time and adequate quantity of water to be used. Finally, attendees will learn how to perform irrigation system distribution uniformity tests and how to address poor distribution uniformity in vineyards.

Taller de la Gestión del Agua de Riego - en Español

Viernes 29 de Julio 8:00am-11:30am.

$15 - Registración requerida

En esta platica hablaremos de las propiedades del suelo que afectan el movimiento y la retención del agua y el papel que la salud del suelo juega en la gestión del agua de riego. También platicaremos de cómo utilizar tecnología existente para desarrollar un plan estratégico para la gestión del agua de riego: como determinar el tiempo ideal para regar y la cantidad adecuada de agua a utilizar. Finalmente, participantes tendrán la oportunidad de aprender como ejecutar una prueba de distribución de uniformidad del sistema de riego y como resolver problemas de distribución de uniformidad en viñedos.

Registrarse Aquí

Impacts of Dry-Season Grazing on Fuels Reduction & Native Plant Communities

a workshop for habitat restoration and fuels reduction professionals

July 21 - 9:30am-2:30pm

Morning Discussions: Pope Valley Farm Center, 9:30am-12pm

Afternoon Field Tour: Wantrup Preserve, 1-2:30pm

Land Trust of Napa County and Napa RCD are joining together to offer an in-depth look at dry-season grazing aimed at avoiding impacts to, and possibly benefiting, native plants at the Wantrup Preserve. These discussions will be geared toward those working in the fields of habitat restoration and fuels reduction.

Morning topics and speakers:

Local Flora Discussion with Jake Ruygt, local botanist
Grazing for Fuels Reduction with Morgan Doran, UCCE
Project Details and Preliminary Results with Mike Palladini, Land Trust of Napa County

Afternoon field tour:

We will make the short trip from the Pope Valley Farm Center to the Wantrup Preserve to see the grazing process in action. Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear from Jaime Irwin, co-owner of Kaos Sheep Outfit.

Registration Required. Lunch & snacks are provided.

Once registration is complete, an email will be sent with the location of the afternoon field tour.

Napa Parks & Rec Foundation Benefit

Westwood Hills Park • Sunday, July 17

Join Napa RCD in celebration of our friends at Napa Parks & Rec Foundation! We'll be there to lead a hike and talk about some of the volunteer work we've done in partnership with City Parks and the Foundation!