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                                May 12, 1998
                                      
               Grape-growers take initiative to save habitat
                                      
                                By BOB KLOSE
                        Press Democrat Staff Writer
                                      
     GEYSERVILLE -- In the old days, just a few years ago, the rule of
    thumb at Farrow Ranch for creek maintenance was to clear debris and
        vegetation from the stream that cuts through the vineyards.
                                      
                             It was a bad idea.
                                      
   When Mike Draxton took over as vineyard manager and found he couldn't
     drive a tractor between stretches of Gill Creek and his merlot, he
              called the Department of Fish and Game for help.
                                      
     This spring, after two full years of a stream restoration program,
       Gill Creek is building healthy sandbars and deep pools for the
    steelhead that run wild there. And the bank erosion that threatened
     nearby vineyards has decreased, although there were some setbacks
       during the recent heavy rains and more work needs to be done.
                                      
   But the brief effort to rescue this 400-yard stretch of Gill Creek has
        made Draxton a believer, and he began the third year of his
   restoration project in March when his vineyard workers and a Fish and
           Game crew planted 300 alder trees on the stream bank.
                                      
     ''It's amazing how quickly Mother Nature can correct itself,'' he
                   said. ''And it's not that much work.''
                                      
    In the wake of recent listings of salmon and steelhead as threatened
    species, federal wildlife officials are expected to require property
     owners and local agencies to launch restoration programs aimed at
   improving conditions for the fish. While these efforts may be the most
    ambitious attempts to restore fish habitat in Russian River history,
                          they won't be the first.
                                      
     Public and private agencies and landowners like Draxton have been
         working to restore creeks and river banks for generations.
                                      
    Trout Unlimited has been working for more than seven years to repair
      logging damage to Willow Creek, which flows into the river near
      Jenner. Up in Cazadero, Jim Barry of the sawmill family has been
     working with ranchers Ken Parmeter and Bob Schneider for years to
              restore Ward Creek, a tributary of Austin Creek.
                                      
    Near Asti, Ron Rolleri of Hidden Springs Vineyard continually plants
     willows to protect his quarter-mile of Russian River frontage from
     erosion. In Mendocino County, similar measures have been standard
   practice of the Ruddick ranching family, which settled between Hopland
                          and Ukiah in the 1850s.
                                      
       ''If we didn't protect the riverbank our land would go down to
                        Jenner,'' said Dick Ruddick.
                                      
      Compared with five miles of riverfront the Ruddicks look after,
     Draxton's project on the 299-acre Farrow Ranch is small. But Gill
    Creek cuts through part of the 85 acres Draxton and his wife, Carol,
    have in grapes, and the creek is crucial to the ranch water supply.
                                      
     An infrared aerial photo illustrates damage to the creek caused by
     previous managers who routinely cleared the channel of vegetation.
                                      
    The photo shows the creek thick and healthy with vegetation up- and
   downstream of the vineyard, but barren in the middle. As a result, the
   stream bank eroded and the water flow dried up in that section of the
     creek in the summer, threatening the water supply and ruining fish
                                  habitat.
                                      
   Working with Fish and Game, Draxton installed log and boulder barriers
   to prevent erosion and restore creek banks, redirected the channel to
    encourage development of pools and gravel bars, and planted beds of
                   willows to ward off damaging currents.
                                      
   ''Mike's project is small, but it's a real classic example of what is
   going on along the Russian River and its tributaries,'' said Fish and
    Game representative John Fort. ''He'll have a nice piece of property
                 with a nice stream with some fish in it.''
                                      
   Draxton said he initially worried the restoration work would become a
    huge headache. But he said Fish and Game crews did some of the work,
    and he was able to use in-house labor and rocks, logs and gravel on
                    the property. The cost was minimal.
                                      
                         ''And it's fun,'' he said.
                                      
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                         © 1998 The Press Democrat