Ledbetter Riparian Enhancement Project

Along a 23 acre stretch of the lower Mokelumne River northeast of Lodi, Vino Farms Inc. is tackling a massive riparian habitat restoration project. The effort to root out invasive plants, increase the diversity of native species, and improve wildlife habitat has been made possible through grants from the Sand County Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Work began in the fall of 2007 while the grape trucks were still rolling through Lodi’s 90,000 acres of premium winegrapes. In this 3-part feature series, Vinecology follows the work of Vino Farms, contracted with the River Partners, through each step in the riparian restoration process.

Part 1: Go To Your Goats

The Grand Vin Lands ranch is headquarters to Vino Farm’s latest drive to create a more sustainable vineyard management operation. Among 200 acres of Pinot gris, Chardonnay, Syrah, and Zinfandel, Vino Farms is building a new 25,000 gallon biodiesel tank, installing a 50 kilowatt solar array, and restoring 23 acres of riparian habitat.

When the Ledbetter family first acquired Grand Vin Lands Ranch over 30 years ago, it had been grazing land for cattle. They planted most of the property to winegrapes except the area bordering the Mokelumne River, which had long-since succumbed to Himalayan blackberry, Chinese Tree of Heaven, the rootstocks of an old walnut orchard, and the usual cast of invasive weeds. Prior to human disturbance, areas along the river like this were once replete with diverse plant communities of native vegetation, offering a broad range of animal habitat. They were ecosystems of oxbow lakes, seasonal wetlands, secondary channels, and a wide forested floodplain, created and sustained by the natural processes of the Mokelumne River.

Vino Farms initiated the Ledbetter Mokelumne River Sustainable Project to recreate the riparian ecosystem at the edge of the ranch and increase habitat for the threatened Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle (VELB). With the help of the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission and the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, Vino Farms won a Sand County Foundation grant and received money from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to restore the riparian habitat. And the first step was to fence off the area and bring in the goats.

A man in the business of leasing goats for vegetation control dropped off 500 Boer goats at the restoration site. To keep the animals safe from predators, the goatherd also delivered a pack of monstrous, foaming watchdogs. Vino Farms Viticulturalists Chris Storm and Shannen Lind listened carefully to the instructions of the goatherd about caring for the ranch’s newest occupants.

“If they ever break loose or give you any trouble, just tell them ‘Go to your goats’.”

For Shannon, who lives in the house on Grand Vin Lands Ranch, the phrase became a nightly ritual. The beasts would break loose at midnight, charge out to his window, and unleash terror on him and his normally-proportioned, domesticated dogs.

For Chris, who was still routinely at Grand Vin Lands on his ATV checking the sugar concentration of the grapes, the phrase became a daily prayer. The dogs would shadow him along the fence, snarling, sizing him up, waiting for the right moment to bound over the mere 3-foot tall goat fence and check his sugar. Clutching his refractometer, Chris would quietly recite the goatherd’s words.

Throughout the reign of canine terror, the goats voraciously performed their duty. They stripped away everything green on the site floor, expect for fenced-in pockets of native species, and reared up on their hind legs to defoliate any vegetation below six feet. With nothing left but woody material, the goats began to press up against the fence like a mob of FIFA World Cup fans, eyeing the leafy old vine Zinfandel. That night the fence finally gave in and the goats swarmed the vines. The guard dogs, trained to maim and eviscerate anything and everything bipedal, four-wheeled, or otherwise, suddenly had the unfamiliar task of herding goats. The dogs ran back and forth, barking and howling, with no clue what to do about the situation.

Shannen woke up to the clamor of the dogs outside his window. Even in the dark he could see the huge dust storm the goats were kicking up in the vineyard. He called the goatherd, who told him all he had to do was holler at the goats and they’d return to the enclosure. It didn’t make any sense at the time to Shannen how one man could round up a mob of 500 goats. But Shannen went into the vineyard whistling and shouting at the goats and to his surprise it worked. The goats were well-trained.

The next day the goatherd picked up the animals. Grand Vin Lands Ranch was now ready for the next phase in the restoration process.