2010 Spring
Almost-Equinox
Dance Party

Saturday, March 13th • Alpine Hall, 5380 St. Helena Rd.
Doors open 6:00PM • Live Music from 7PM to 10PM
Featuring The Thugz (Tribal Hippie Underground Zone)

Tickets: $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
Children under 12 FREE • Snacks and Drinks Available
Raffle, Raffle, Raffle! • Ticket price includes 5 raffle tickets.

Donations to this event benefit Friends of the Mark West Watershed in their ongoing efforts to preserve, protect and restore the Mark West Creek.

Advance tickets sold at Sunnyside Cottage (next to Oliver’s).

Or get "will call" tickets by downloading this order form and mailing it along with your check.

Need more info? FMWWRSVP@sonic.net

Nov 12, 2009 Update on Cornell Winery Application

The Board of Zoning Adjustment continued its public hearing for Cornell's application to build a winery off Wappo Road. 24 people spoke at the hearing, virtually all against the application.

FMWW presented a letter to the BZA; you can read the entire letter here.  Our opposition is based on the fact that the county's approval process circumvents the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and its requirement to treat this project as a whole. The short letter goes on to request that the county deny the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) and require an Environment Impact Report (EIR), as did many of the individuals who spoke at the hearing.

The BZA voted to continue to take written public comments for the next two weeks and then close the public hearing portion and continue their deliberations at their next meeting, February 25th, at 1:05PM, at the PRMD building.

See 2004 photos of sediment in Mark West Creek below Cornell vineyards and 2006-2009 photos of Cornell's efforts to repair damage to hillside caused by 2006 landslide. All of these photos were supplied by Paul Keiran from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (the NCRWQCB).

New Phone Alert System from the
Emergency Preparedness Committee

A joint program of the Alpine Club and the FMWW, the Phone Alert System calls your phone(s) when there is a local emergency that could impact you or your property. For more information, go to our new Emergency Preparedness page.

Knight Valley Loses To Jackson Winery: Knights Valley, like the upper Mark West Watershed, is covered by the County’s Franz Valley Area Plan, so we share many land use issues in common. At the Public Hearing for "Pelton House," Jess Jackson's Knights Valley Winery and 200-person events facility, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the project--even after listening to a roomful of residents speak against it. For recent expert testimony regarding impacts on tributaries to the Russian River (Kellogg, Yellowjacket, and Redwood Creeks) and their habitat, please click here. Here's the Press Democrat article on the vote.

A Primer To The
Cornell Winery Controversy

A brief backgrounder, with Documents Directory.

At left, 09/04/2005 photo of winery site, apparently cleared of trees and graded without permits.

In the Spring of 2006, a landslide on the property sent an estimated 10,000 cubic feet of sediment into a tributary of Mark West Creek.

More News:  FMWW Criticizes County's Proposed Grading Ordinance

UPDATE:  Final Ordinance now posted. This ordinance will amend the Sonoma County Code to consolidate all grading, drainage and vineyard and orchard development related code provisions into one comprehensive chapter. In other words, it will make all grading and vineyard conversions "ministerial actions," thereby "...circumventing any meaningful environmental review and public disclosure and participation" according to Ray Krauss. To see the documents involved and read FMWW's critique, go to our new Grading Ordinance page.

Your Watershed Needs You!

The FMWW is reorganizing itself so much of the work we hope to accomplish will happen in highly-focused Standing Committees. You can now read descriptions of the FMWW Standing Committees.

FRIENDS OF THE MARK WEST WATERSHED
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
January 21, 2010  6- 9 PM
MONAN’S RILL HUB

Facilitation Team
Linda, Penny, Greg


6:00 Sign in and shared munchies.

6:30 Business Meeting

· Approve December minutes

· Financial Report – Bill

· Dates for Road Clean Up and Hike & Hoot

· Website – removal of FMWW letter not written within consensus
guidelines – Harriet

· Website – posting on the site – further guidelines?

· March retreat – Penny, Ray, Linda – suggested date is Saturday, March
20, 2010

Committee Reports

· Community Building Committee– Greg

* Fundraising –Sherry – Budget proposal and details of dance – 3/13/10

* Stewardship Committee - Greg

* History Committee – Linda

* Emergency Preparedness - Bill

* Land Use – February 4th meeting - Pat

Next General Meeting:  February 18, 2010, 6PM

Directions to Monan's Rill ~ 7899 St. Helena Road, Santa Rosa CA 95404. Approx. 4 miles on St. Helena Road from Calistoga Road. At the bottom of a sharp S turn, there are several mailboxes on the left at the base of the main drive onto the land. You will also see a sign for Monan's Rill at the entry on the left side of the road. Go up the gravel drive. Please keep your speed below 15 mph. Monan's Rill community hub is about a mile up the drive. Once you get onto the property, keep going straight, curving around to the left until you get to a "Y". Take the right fork and make the next left at the mailboxes. The community building is on the left and parking is on the roadway or in the parking lot area on the right of the building. Please leave your pets at home ~ stay clear of the ponds ~ no smoking. Please Note: All attendees at our monthly meetings are asked to sign a general liability release for the benefit of Monan’s Rill.

Our On-Going Strategic Planning

FMWW Mission:  We are a community dedicated to preserving, protecting, and restoring the Mark West Creek and its watershed as a natural and community resource.

Read our May 17, 2008 Agreements as to how FMWW plans to operate under Consensus (a work in progress).

NEW uploads of Planning Documents:

Saddle Mountain Management Plan: The Ag and Open Space District has contracted for the preparation of a management plan for the Saddle Mountain property. This is the latest update on their progress. (Acrobat file; 20KB size)

Upper Mark West Watershed Management Plan: Phase One: The Sotoyome Resource Conservation District has begun a management plan for the Upper Mark West Watershed. Phase One summarizes existing information about the natural history of our watershed and identifies what further work we need to complete a plan for its (hopefully enlightened) management. (Acrobat file; 604KB size)

Franz Valley Specific Plan; 1979: Sonoma County prepared and adopted this land use plan and environmental impact report in 1979. It has since been incorporated by reference into the County’s General Plan. It contains information about the environmental sensitivities and constraints and opportunities of our watershed and the importance of the watershed to the environmental future of the County. It also has a nice ethnographic history. (Acrobat file; 13MB size)