Bill Hocker | Sep 1, 2014

From: Sierra Club - Napa County Group <napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com>
Date: August 28, 2014 at 9:29:42 PM PDT
Subject: Napa Sierra Club vs. Walt Ranch!
Reply-To: Sierra Club - Napa County Group <napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com>

We've been expecting this fight for years, and it is big. It is a fight over habitat, groundwater, and climate change.

Its name is Walt Ranch, and it will be expensive. So, for the first time in several years, Napa Sierra Club is making a fundraising appeal.

The Walt proposal, by a 500+ member Texas-based investment group, is to clear cut over 300 acres of oak woodland for vineyard development on Atlas Peak.
More than 28,000 "significant" trees will be cut down, eliminating wildland habitat, wiping out carbon stores which counter greenhouse gases, and destabilizing the land.

Project-generated erosion and landslides could threaten house foundations, roads, and water delivery infrastructure.
The project proposes to annually pump over 69 million gallons of water from two sensitive watersheds: Milliken Creek, which supplies the City of Napa and the water-
deficient MST basin, and Capell Creek, which supplies the seven hundred residents of Circle Oaks. Another 300 or so homes on Atlas Peak also rely on wells.

We believe that the Walt Ranch Environmental Impact Report is deeply flawed. To effectively challenge it we must hire an attorney and experts in hydrology and biology. Our estimated initial expenses are in the range of $15,000 - 20,000, about 7 times our annual income.

Can you help us?
Please donate by writing a check to Sierra Club Foundation, stating "Napa Group" in the memo line.
Mail to Napa Sierra Club, PO Box 644, Napa, CA 94559.


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Sierra Club 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

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NVR Article on the Circle Oaks fight over walt ranch

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