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Dear Supporter,
Happy Holidays
News from the Chair
by Nick Cheranich
Our Napa Sierra Club Group has been busy this Fall with a mix of events, advocacy, and planning for the future. Here’s what we’ve been working on:
 Successful Outreach Event
We recently hosted a well-attended outreach event at Skyline Park. The highlight was having a speaker, Brendon Freeman, from the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Napa County, who explained the agency's role in managing local growth and land use. We were honored to have two county supervisors, Joelle Gallagher and Anne Cottrell, as well as Scott Sedgley, the Mayor of Napa, join us. Our incredible student interns staffed a table for Students for Climate Action (S4CA) and ensured everything ran smoothly. Guests enjoyed great food, wine, and Sierra Club merchandise drawings. (Photo: Our student interns, by Nick Cheranich)
 We remain faithful in our commitment to fostering community connections during these challenging times. Building social capital—an essential component of democracy—is just as important as advancing our environmental goals. Please read more about the event, below. (Photo: Event attendees, by Joanna Mittman)
Measure B Defeated
In St. Helena, the defeat of Measure B marked a victory for environmental protection (final tallies aren’t yet in, but it looks like the outcome won’t change). The Measure would have allowed for the construction of a large luxury resort in the city limits. Both our Napa Group and the State Sierra Club recommended a No vote, and our collective efforts may have helped influence the outcome.
Cur rent Issues
We are closely monitoring the proposed Hess/Laird project, which seeks to convert open space to industrial use. Unfortunately, the Board of Supervisors recently voted to make the change. It's possible that no development will happen until the proposed Newell Drive extension is approved and built.
We think that protecting open spaces is a priority, as is supporting a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for Napa County. An HCP would map the county’s bioregion, identify critical habitats, and secure lands to protect endangered and threatened species. Unlike standard Environmental Impact Reviews, HCPs create a proactive approach to preserving biodiversity. Please read more about it, below.
Napa Watershed Symposium Sponsorship
We’re proud to be one of the sponsors of the upcoming Watershed Symposium on Dec. 5th, hosted by the Napa RCD. A couple Excom members and a student intern plan to attend the all-day event, so if you see us, please say, "Hi."
The event will spotlight innovative restoration projects, collaborative solutions for sustainable water management, and include inspiring presentations from local leaders. Our contribution supports the vital work of strengthening our community’s water resilience. You can still buy tickets to the event here.
 Student Interns Making an Impact
Our student interns have been hard at work educating the community, writing articles, and deepening their knowledge of environmental issues. Their passion and dedication have been invaluable, and many are eager to return for another year in the program. Read a couple of their articles, below. (Photo: Our student interns greeting guests at our recent event, by Nick Cheranich)
Thank you for your continued support of our mission. Together, we’re making meaningful strides to protect Napa County’s environment and ensure a sustainable future. I hope you have the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature.
Our next Conservation Committee meeting won't be until March (we will be having our annual ExComm Retreat in Late January). Also, we are moving our meetings to every 3rd Monday of every odd numbered month, instead of Tuesdays, which coincided with various City Council meetings across the County. So, mark your calendars for March 17, 2025 at 6:00PM. If you would like to attend, just click on the RSVP button below and I'll send you a Zoom invite a few days before the meeting. Thank you.
- Nick Cheranich, ExCom Chair
napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com
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Napa Group Hosts Skyline Park Social Gathering
Article by Scott Thomason, photos by Joanna Mittman
The Napa Group sponsored a gathering of Sierra Club members on September 25 at Skyline Hall in Skyline Park. The event attracted current members and local dignitaries, including Scott Sedgley, Napa Mayor, and Melissa Lamattina, recently elected to the American Canyon City Council. Also in attendance were County Supervisors Joelle Gallagher and Anne Cottrell. (Photo: Our student interns (L to R), Maia, Liliana, Natalie, Kate, and Arya.)
 Our Executive Committee Secretary, Elayna Trucker, did a fantastic job as the event’s Master of Ceremonies. Event planners Nick Cheranich, Chair of the Napa Group, and Scott Thomason, Napa Group’s Treasurer, made sure the event ran smoothly. (Photo: Elayna Trucker.)
Our invited speaker was Brendon Freeman, Executive Officer of Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Napa County, who gave a short background on what LAFCO does and why. Briefly, LAFCO is the governmental agency designated by the California Legislature to manage local governmental boundaries, evaluate municipal services, and protect prime agriculture lands. Brendon walked those attending through some of the recent projects LAFCO has been involved in and its role in each of them.
 Additionally, Susan Kenward spoke briefly about the importance of defeating St. Helena's Measure B, a proposal to permit the development of a luxury resort. Both Susan's group and the Sierra Club advocated for a "No on Measure B" vote. (Photo: Susan Kenward.)
Also attending the function were Sierra Club Napa Group high school student interns, including Paulina Zambrano, Katherine Bit, Liliana Karesh, Arya Adhye, Natalie Carr and Maia Medalle. The free event was catered by the Dutch Door and included wine donated by Christina Benz and the American Canyon Community & Parks Foundation.
This was the second social event hosted by the Napa Group in 2024, and the Executive Committee is eager to continue these gatherings in 2025. Each event will focus on a unique theme, bringing like-minded members together to enjoy food, beverages, and an evening of connection and camaraderie. In these challenging times, we believe that fostering social capital is as vital as advancing our shared environmental goals. (Photo: Executive Committee members Roland Dumas and Nick Cheranich with attendees.)
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Back to School, Sixteen Years Later
Article by Elayna Trucker
 There is no greater fight right now than the fight for a sustainable future, and for the past few years, I’ve been trying to figure out where I fit into it. My volunteer work is gratifying, but it wasn’t enough, so I did what I thought I’d never do: go back to school. Now I’m just a week or so away from finishing the first of twelve classes in a Master of Science in Sustainability and Environment at University of North Carolina, Greensboro (online and part time), and I’ve never felt more sure of my path forward. (Graphic, above: This is the logo for my program: clockwise from the bright green slightly bigger leaf, which represents Environment, then Aesthetics, Economics, Equity.)
 I’ve been working my way through our foundational Sustainability course, learning about where we are now, where we have been, and where we could be in the future if, in the words of Dr. Ayana Johnson, we get it right. We’re in a tight spot, there’s no getting around that fact. Just five years out from the 2030 goal of dramatically reduced fossil fuel emissions so we can hold global warming to 1.5°C or less, we’re nowhere near where we should be. Developed nations continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and developing nations are quickly catching up as they race to enter the global economy. Plastic waste continues to grow despite it visibly choking our waterways and oceans, and knowing that microplastics in our own bodies, as well as the bodies of other animal species, are causing serious harm. (Photo credit: Save Napa Valley)
 Perhaps most insidiously, American society is now marked by a fear and hatred of education, scientists, and science that make it nearly impossible for people on either side of the debate to have a rational, respectful conversation about our changing environment and what it could do to us if we do nothing. People and corporations with the most power and money have spent decades convincing us that the market knows best so they can continue to amass more power and more money; but a generation of neoliberal policies have only resulted in an ever-increasing wealth gap and unrelenting nonrenewable resource extraction, devastating our environment and the communities – human and otherwise – who live within and depend upon it. (Photo credit: Reader's Digest)
 But there are so many bright spots. In my Sustainable Solutions textbook by Richard Niesenbaum, I’ve learned about scientists and companies that are innovating products and systems that reduce our fossil fuel dependence, clean up our devastated soil and water, harness energy from the sun and the wind and flowing water and even from our own trash. We have the technology, of that there is no doubt. The challenge will be in shifting culture, convincing our fellow humans that nature is worth saving, that it is against our own best interest to take and take and take until there is nothing left for our children and their children. I can’t wait to learn more about how I can help make this shift happen as I continue my MSSE program and bring its lessons back to our community.
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Napa's Groundwater: Past, Present, and Future
Article by Arya Adhye
 [Arya (right) is our newest student intern, and is a Junior at Vintage High School.]
According to the City of Napa, Napa uses 13,000-acre feet of water each year, which is equivalent to 4.2 billion gallons. Most would be appalled by this statistic, understandably. Is it the seemingly endless supply of water to our homes and the long showers that has caused this gross overuse of water? Well, not entirely. According to the Napa Water Committee’s 2023 Groundwater Management report, 72% of Napa County’s water is consumed by agriculture.
 To understand anything about Napa’s use of water, we must understand where our water comes from and where it goes. Napa has several main water sources. We take water from Lake Henesey, the State Water Project (the Sacramento Delta), and the Milliken Reservoir. Agriculture, on the other hand, uses well water, which is groundwater. This groundwater comes from several basins, one of them being the Napa Valley Subbasin, which sits on the larger 426 square mile Napa watershed.
 Unlike the other basins, the Napa Valley Subbasin is labeled as one of forty-six high priority basins in California. How come? Well, the government’s main concern is overdrafting. Overdrafting, to put it simply, happens when groundwater pumping is increased. The water table, the upper level of underground soil and rocks that are permanently saturated with water, sinks deeper into the earth. This human caused phenomenon has far-reaching consequences for human as well as ecosystem life in Napa. (Photo: A beaver dam, by Rusty Cohn)
 Before we dive into the effects of overdrafting, let's go back in history, all the way to before humans began doing large-scale agriculture in Napa. (Illustration: Napa River in the 1800s, by Brian Maebius) Rivers ran from mountains on either side of the valley onto the valley floor . Robin Grossinger, the author of the Napa Valley Historical Ecology Atlas wrote, “forest remnants 200 to 400 feet wide can be seen upstream of St. Helena in early 1940s aerial photography”. These rivers were slow, wide, and lazy, and as they approached the valley floor, they spread out, soaking and filtering into the ground. This naturally replenished and enriched the groundwater basin. In addition, there was healthy flooding assisted by beaver ponds and fallen trees, which enabled native flora and fauna to thrive even during the dry season. Oak trees and riparian life used this abundance of water and acted like pumps to direct water down into the earth, further adding to the basin. Due to all these naturally occurring phenomena, Napa had a very high water table, with it rising within a few feet of the ground during the wet season.
However, this is where the problem started. Article continues here.
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A Morning In the Muck (What Napa RCD's Trash Cleanup Taught Me About Environmental Stewardship)
Article by Natalie Carr, Student Intern
 In Mid-October of this year, I received a text from one of the members of my school’s environmental club that I help lead. He sent me information about a service opportunity through the Napa County Resource Conservation District (RCD). It was a trash cleanup at the Oxbow Commons, and I was instantly interested. I know Nick Cheranich, Chair of the Napa Sierra Club Group, participated in one at Kennedy park and liked it a lot. Furthermore, the club and I took part in RCD’s Green Friday oak planting day, and we all loved it. So, I decided I would share this trash cleanup event with the Environmental Club so people could join me and clean up our river while having fun, and it could also be one of my internship projects. Win-win. Right? (Photo: Courtesy Napa RCD )
 Fast forward to the morning of the cleanup. Unfortunately, only the member who sent me the information and I ended up showing up. I thought this was because everyone was too busy, but several minutes into the cleanup, I realized why, and realized what I had agreed to take on. (Photo: a past Napa Group Cleanup with the RCD)
 You see, I assumed this would just be cleaning up random litter in the commons area on the concrete. What I didn’t realize, however, is that we would be exploring the entirety of the riverbanks in the area and looking for trash specifically along the riverside. This meant stepping through tall grass, random deserted areas, and most of all, mud. Thank goodness I listened to my dad and wore my hiking shoes! (Photo: Nick Cheranich having a cleaner cleanup at Kennedy Park)
 I usually love participating in environmental-related service projects, but cleaning up trash really disgusted me, even though we had gloves, a bucket, and a grabber. One of the RCD’s interns, Ines, and I found a tire that had been partially destroyed, leaving bits of pungent rubber goo everywhere. We tried to pick up its remains and put it in the bucket, but Ashley (the leader/coordinator) stopped us, fortunately. Eventually, when we walked all the way up to the tracks near the wine train, I found semi-degraded plastic bags that were partially buried in the ground, and had to pull them out. Doing so made me a little sick to my stomach, and after a while I had to take a quick break until I felt better. (Photo: Courtesy Napa RCD )
But that wasn’t the craziest part. Around 11 A.M.... (Article continues here)
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Interested in Making a Difference? Wondering About What Your Legacy Will Be? Consider Volunteering with Us
 Legacy is often defined as the desire to leave the world a better place for future generations.
At the Sierra Club, our mission is to conserve natural ecosystems, promote sustainability in land and water use, and reduce carbon emissions. Our projects focus on issues that matter to Napa, where local action can make a real difference.
We're working to protect the environment for those who will inherit it, but we can't do it alone.
It's not enough to just support the cause financially—real change happens through action.
We’re seeking passionate individuals to join our Conservation and Executive Committees. Whether you bring expertise in research, organizing, or education—or you're eager to learn—we welcome your involvement. If you or someone you know has skills and experience that align with our mission, we need your help.
Prepare to leave your legacy. Take the first step by joining us at our next Conservation Committee meeting (RSVP here).
Let's do it for them!
For further information, email us, in care of Nick Cheranich, at napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com. Thank you!
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The Napa Group strongly supports conserving lands for endangered or threatened wildlife in Napa County. One approach we endorse would be for Napa County to adopt a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and/or Natural Community Conservation Plan NCCP). These plans map out a bioregion to determine where the targeted species are located and then work to protect that habitat as part of the General Plan. (Photo credit: Chris Sauer.)
HCP’s and NCCPs conserve, restore and purchase lands and place conservation easements on private lands. An HCP is different from the current Environmental Impact Review process in that the entire Napa bioregion would be mapped and a baseline of targeted species would be put together before development plans are considered. (Photo credit: Chris Sauer.)
In other California regions, this process has been shown to save time, eliminate opportunities for litigation and streamline the permit process. The advantage to the developer is that projects are accelerated because the biological mapping and conservation plans are already completed. (Photo credit: Chris Sauer.) 
