Habitat Restoration Publications

Wildlife Corridors

Highlights May 2002
Source: Wine Institute
Description: Preserving wildlife corridors and habitat near vineyards can provide refuge for beneficial insect and animal predators, as well as reduce erosion and act as a buffer for waterways. Providing ecological diversity improves the health and beauty of the landscape and enhances relationships with community and government agencies.

Effects of vegetational corridor on abundance and dispersal of insect biodiversity within northern California organic vineyard
Source: Landscape Ecology Feb 2001; Clara Nicholls, Michael Parrella, Miguel Altieri
Description: A scientific study in which two adjacent organic vineyard blocks (A and B) were monitored with respect to insect abundance and biodiversity. Block A contained a corridor composed of 65 flowering plant species which was connected to the surrounding riparian habitat, whereas block B had no plant corridor.

Hedgerows

Hedgerows for California Agriculture
Source: Community Alliance with Family Farmers 2004, Sam Earnshaw
Description: Farmscaping is the management of vegetation on the farm, to include plantings on roadways, field margins, waterways, natural areas and non-cropped areas. These areas can result in grass waterways, buffers, filter strips and cover crops, as well as hedgerows and windbreaks.

Hedgerows
Source: UC Coop Extension – Master Gardeners of Napa County 2008; Nancy Wilson
Description: Many groups, including the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, are working to reestablish native plant hedgerows as a habitat for butterflies, beneficial insects, pollinators and birds, amphibians and more.

Native Plants for Local Hedgerows
Source: Unknown
Description: Short list of recommended plants.

Farmers work to encourage native bee habitat
Source: California Farm Bureau Federation – Ag Alert Oct 2008; Christine Souza
Description: With honeybee populations weakened by disease and Colony Collapse Disorder, farmers have started a movement to bring native bees back to the farming landscape.

Native Plants for Pollinators
Source: Rose Roberts, Farm Stewards
Description: List of plants which thrive in full sun, are drought tolerant, and are proven performers in hedgerows in the North Coast and North Bay counties of California.

Wildlife Activity along Creek Corridors
Source: Practical Winery and Vineyard Nov-Dec 2002; Jodi Hilty and Adina Merenlender
Description: Agro-ecology focuses on the farm, where farming practices, land management, and restoration can enhance production and improve ecosystem health. In California vineyards a great deal of progress has been made in promoting biodiversity by increasing the use of cover crops and hedgerows.

Selecting Plants for Pollinators in the California Coastal Steppe
Source: NAPPC and Pollinator Partnership
Description: Animal pollinators are needed for the reproduction of 90% of flowering plants and one third of human food crops. In the wilderness of California’s Coastal Steppe, Mixed Forest, and Redwood Forest Province, abundant and healthy populations of pollinators increase biodiversity and wildlife food sources.

Green Wine Industry Articles

Agro-environmental partnerships facilitate sustainable wine-grape production and assessment
Source: California Agriculture Oct-Dec 2008; Janet C. Broome and Keith Douglass Warner
Description: Sustainable agriculture has been defined as a goal, a scientific research endeavor and a social movement that prioritizes equally environmental protection, economic viability and social equity.

Cover Cropping

Vineyard floor management affects soil, plant nutrition, and grape yield and quality
Source: California Agriculture vol 62 num 4; Richard Smith, Larry Bettiga, Michael Cahn, Kendra Baumgartner, Louise E. Jackson and Tiffany Bensen
Description: Vineyard-floor management strategies, such as weed control and cover-cropping, have wide-ranging impacts both inside the vineyard, in terms of crop management and productivity, and outside the vineyard, in terms of runoff and sediment movement into streams and rivers.

Manipulating vineyard biodiversity for improved insect pest management: case studies from northern California
Source: International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management 1 2005; Miguel A. Altieri, Luigi Ponti, Clara I. Nicholls
Description: A key strategy in sustainable viticulture – enhance biodiversity at the landscape and field level through the use of cover crops, corridors and various habitats.