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Photo by J. Vakassian
Wine Creek Restoration
Wine Creek, which bisects the Quivira estate on its way to Dry Creek, was once a thriving habitat for Steelhead and Coho Salmon. The creek had plenty of cool, oxygen-rich water and clean gravel that the fish required. Over the years, agricultural development, gravel mining and other factors have had a negative impact on the fish habitat, mainly by removing shade and silting up the gravel beds.
We have built a series of nine weirs or low fall dams along our portion of Wine Creek. As water rush¬es over the weirs, it creates a deep pool of calm water below the dam where fish can rest on their long journey upstream to spawn. Above the weirs, gravel collects, creating the perfect spawning conditions.
Living willow trees have been woven together and planted on the banks to reinforce the sides of the creek.
In partnership with Trout Unlimited and the California Department of Fish and Game, Quivira has worked diligently to restore the creek. Here you can see large boulders that have been installed and stabilized with cables to reinforce the deteriorating creek banks and to shore up large trees whose roots have been exposed due to erosion.
This is where Wine Creek merges with Dry Creek on our property. Just as the water flows from our property to the rest of the Dry Creek region, so are the fish-friendly farming ideas spreading to other properties in the area. Quivira’s Wine Creek Restoration Project has spurred similar projects along the creek, and has inspired Trout Unlimited to work with other land owners in the region on an entire Dry Creek Watershed Project.
Quivira is now the official winery of Trout Unlimited, whose mission is to "to conserve, protect and restore North America’s Trout and Salmon fisheries and their coldwater watersheds." Their logo is proudly displayed on the back of the Steelhead bottle, a wine we make with our partners that is distributed nationwide, and celebrates the Quivira philosophy.
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