CARILLO to our rescue!!!! Hoo-Ray! Battle over tree clear-cutting (Press Democrat)

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Tree clear-cut sparks vineyard conversion furor
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"County Supervisor Assails Winemaker"

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Workers walk past an "Order to Stop Work" sign posted by the Sonoma County
Agriculture Commissioner as the workers were finishing ripping up hundreds of
trees from a former Christmas tree farm on Vine Hill Road near Sebastopol.
JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

By SAM SCOTT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 9:20 p.m.

Efren Carrillo, chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, has come out swinging against a winemaker with a recent history of controversial tree removals.

The winemaker, Paul Hobbs, in turn says he's being unfairly pilloried, but he's facing complications beyond Carrillo's withering words.

On Thursday, an official from the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's Office, accompanied by an investigator from the Sonoma County District Attorney's office, ordered workers at the latest tree removal site to stop work pending an investigation.

“It's like he's adding insult to injury here,” Carrillo said on Thursday, even as Hobbs insisted he was being clobbered for doing the right thing.

The latest chapter in the story began Tuesday when Carrillo published a blistering critique of Hobbs in connection with the clear-cutting of a former Christmas tree farm near Sebastopol as well as with two other tree clearings to make room for grapevines.

Carrillo charged that Hobbs, who is under contract to buy the farm, and its current owners skirted regulations by clearing the land for a vineyard without a conversion permit.

“Paul Hobbs has shown a blatant disregard for Sonoma County, its resources, his fellow vintners and community sentiment,” Carrillo wrote on the Sonoma County Gazette website.

“To me, his wines are unpalatable as they carry strong tones of environmental harm with overwhelming notes of arrogance,” Carrillo wrote.

But Hobbs said Thursday that he had been blindsided by a baseless and offensive attack without the chance to address the charges. He doesn't own the land in question, he said.

“I'm really shocked,” he said. “That's a defamation of our good reputation and I think there's been too much of that.”

The heart of the issue is seven acres on Vine Hill Road north of Sebastopol that Hobbs is buying from Del and Elaine Davis.

Both sides of the deal wanted the trees gone. Elaine Davis said Thursday they were concerned about the liability of people sawing down Christmas trees from a site they've stopped maintaining since Del Davis's health declined.

Hobbs, meanwhile, said the land was useful to him only if it was cleared, so he made that a condition of the pending purchase, much like a home buyer might request a seller fix a sink.

A representative with Cal Fire, which regulates timber land, confirmed the tree removal was allowed without a state permit since the trees were not harvested for commercial purposes.

If the deal closes, and if he decides to put in a vineyard, Hobbs said he's fully aware he'll then need a conversion permit, he said.

“That's well known,” he said.

Carrillo conceded that whether the permits were necessary will be a matter for authorities to decide, but he questioned the ethics of removing the trees

“One need not wait for a legal determination before expressing outrage at the insensitivity and environmental depravity of this conduct,” he wrote.

On Thursday, Carrillo repeated his frustration with Hobbs, saying it's been building from two previous incidents.

“I don't understand how someone can show such blatant disregard not only to the process but also to our resources and to their fellow grape growers,” he said.

Earlier this year, Hobbs clear cut eight acres along Gravenstein Highway that he acquired as part of a bitter ongoing lawsuit with his neighbor, political activist John Jenkel, a move that angered even those who felt no love for Jenkel's gadfly ways.

“There's strong animosity in the Graton area toward Hobbs and the manner in which he destroyed the scenic corridor in Highway 116,” said Annie O'Connor, whose mother runs a bed-and-breakfast on Vine Hill Road.

Also in this year, Hobbs cleared trees on a 10-acre site near Pocket Canyon, east of Guerneville without needed permits.

Hobbs said he has replanted oaks and other trees along the denuded corridor and made an honest mistake on the Pocket Canyon site after several consultants misjudged the intent of certain regulations.

Still, he has fans. Dan O'Connell, a fellow winemaker who lives across from the old Christmas tree farm, said he was delighted by Hobbs' plans and by his reputation.

The farm, he said, had been a haven for trouble and he welcomes Hobbs arrival.

Carrillo's anger may soon be the least of Hobbs' and the Davises' concerns. Ann Gallagher White, an environmental prosecutor with the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office, confirmed her office is investigating the property. She would not specify why.

Also, Luis Rivera, assistant executive officer of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, said his organization is looking into permitting issues related to water run off at the site. Carrillo said he hopes any violations are pursued.

Better (very) late, than never! :thumbsup:

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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:

Better (very) late, than never! :thumbsup:

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I disagree. The damage is done. All Efren is doing is grand-standing for votes as a faux environmentalist.

Thomas, Don't be fooled by this election campaign ploy by Efren. You notice he says one bad apple while the rest of the vineyard owners our working tirelessly to obey the rules. Please!
This monoculture has already destroyed thousands of acres by clearcutting, polluting our streams, taking away the wildlife corridors. He has just found one guy that the public is upset at to tell us everyone else is cool!
Although it looks like Preservation ranch may have been delivered a major blow, Efren has made it clear he would support it.
His position has been bought long ago.

[The full article by Carrillo was in the Sebastopol paper Thursday....at last, he's restoring some of the hope I had in him when he was elected.

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Posted in reply to the post by Magick:

Although it looks like Preservation ranch may have been delivered a major blow, Efren has made it clear he would support it.
His position has been bought long ago.

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@ Magick: When did Efren EVER state an opinion on Preservation Ranch? The draft EIR is not even out on this project, which remains with the Planning Agency. This is an outright lie and magickal thinking on your part.

Why do they call it Preservation Ranch? ....... They really should name it Devastation Ranch.

Paul Hobbs regards his actions as benign. There's a big difference between requesting a seller replace a kitchen sink faucet before one buys a house and clear cutting redwoods. Whether or not trees are deemed for commercial or noncommercial use is NOT the issue. The issue is the "TAKING" and the phenomenal destruction to all of life for one's own personal posterity.

If Carillo was so genuinely concerned about the rights of nature and Paul Hobb's actions, then he would have spoken up months ago. Why do we continue to elect leaders who lack vision, morality and responsibility?

i agree, efren is using hobbs as a scapegoat for environmental votes. he has been building this theme since hobbs cut the redwoods next to 116 on the land he took from jenkel. efren is smart enough to know that converting a x-mas tree farm to vineyards on vine hill road will not be a code or zoning issue.

political grandstanding. efren has not said he will vote for or against preservation r.i.p. he says he will wait for the eir. anybody want to bet what he will do when the county staff approve the eir?

its nice to see hobbs squirm. if he wasn't such an arrogant idiot he could have called efren up months ago and worked it all out.

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Posted in reply to the post by Thomas Morabito:

I disagree. The damage is done. All Efren is doing is grand-standing for votes as a faux environmentalist.

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Maybe your love of pot has blurred your ability to think clearly. Efren is working for the organized criminals who got him out of his felony charges. He will be towing the line for them on Preservation Ranch, and any other winery that wants to suck out our water and ship it outside this groundwater recharge zone.

The SC BOS know how to vote strategically, so he may vote against PR, but only if he knows it will not be the majority. This is how to "look good" and still keep your special interest on your side. Mike Reilly did it all the time.

Almost none of you heeded my warning BEFORE Hobbs deforested the West County 3 TIMES without proper permits. The DA Environmental crimes unit is not charging Hobbs for this, even though they paid for the work, they are only going after the contractor! Jill Ravitch is part of this organized crime ring, protecting the 1% and other criminals here by binding the hands of Investigators. So are some of the folks managing CalPERS investments, which Preservation Ranch has been.

How convenient it is when the people who profit from these land raping foes, (CalPERS), also get to write the rules as State employees.

Why did Bob Anderson, a well paid Lobbyist for wine grapes, get to be appointed (by Schwarzenegger) to the Regional Water Quality Control Board when the rules clearly stated his conflict on interest, and letters of protest spelling this out were sent? The wine grape lobby governs our government at all ends of the spectrum.

Don't feed the beast - know the practices of the brands you consume or you are enabling the de-watering and de-foresting what is left of this place we call home.

How much more personal and environmental devastation will take place before you take the kind of action needed to stop this; as you did with the pot ordinance?

Monday, December 17, 2012, 5:40 pm
Paul Hobbs acquires 63 acres of Napa Valley vines

By Jeff Quackenbush, Business Journal Staff Reporter

NAPA — Paul Hobbs Winery today said it purchased the 90-acre Tourmaline Vineyard in the Coombsville winegrowing region east of Napa, making this the western Sonoma County winery’s first Napa Valley acquisition.

The winery purchased the property through Menlo Park-based GI Partners, which has been part of the management team for CalPERS’ vineyard portfolio.
The purchase price wasn’t disclosed...

Santa Rosa-based wine industry transaction firm Zepponi & Company advised GI Partners and brokered the sale.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal....-valley-vines/