display in the vineyard, and every bottle the
winery sells now bears the Salmon-Safe
eco-certification symbol on its label –
something that’s struck a positive chord
with customers.
“We get a lot of positive feedback
for being a member of Salmon-Safe,”
Thrussell said.
He notes that Sage Hills is an organic
operation and has a strong tradition of
being good stewards of the land. This
environmental commitment is reflected
in the way grapes are grown in its vine-yard
through practices such as limiting
the number of agricultural inputs.
“I know that there are over 100 ‘natu-ral’
inputs you can use for organic agri-culture,
and we really focus on just using
a handful of those,” Thrussell said, adding
that what’s mostly used is sulphur to con-trol
mildew and “we spray that sparingly.”
Another environmentally-friendly
practice is clearly evident when you sur-vey
the Sage Hills vineyard. The space
between every other of row of grapevines
is covered with a thick mat of native
grasses, wildflowers and cover crops like
lentils and ryegrass.
“It looks a little bit wild and almost
a bit unkempt, but that’s actually their
purpose,” said Thrussell, pointing out the
vegetation helps support pollinators and
many other insects, which in turn sup-port
a wide range of wildlife that feed off
the insects, such as burrowing rodents,
snakes and birds.
“Everything is kind of in symbiosis in
a way,” Thrussell said. “What all this does
is increase the biodiversity in the vine-yard,
so that we don’t have to use as many
inputs to control for pests.”
In addition, the vegetation contrib-utes
to soil health and reduces mois-ture
loss. There’s also less transpiration of
water from the soil, which means mois-ture
stays in the ground longer.
Thrussell notes that runoff from agri-cultural
operations goes into Okanagan
Lake and then enters the Okanagan River
and eventually the Columbia River – a
major salmon run which empties into the
Pacific Ocean.
“I think that it’s really important to
look beyond the borders of your prop-erty,
because what you do on your prop-erty
has an impact on the surrounding
environment as well. What you’re doing
probably doesn’t end at your fence line,”
said Thrussell.
F E AT U R E
“I think it’s everybody’s responsibil-ity
to protect that broader environment.
Okanagan Lake used to have a thriving fish
stock and it’s suffering. And it likely suffers
due to the intense conventional agricul-ture
that exists all along its banks and all
of that runoff goes into the lake. So, it was
the least we could do,” he said.
“It goes beyond just vineyards. I
think I’d like to see more orchards and
fruit growers involved in Salmon-Safe
as well. It really requires everybody to do
their part to restore and preserve, not only
Okanagan Lake, but also the Okanagan
River and Columbia River watersheds.”
Good for business
Fresco maintains that being recognized for
good stewardship practices which protect
salmon habitats and watersheds is also
good for business.
“It demonstrates commitment and is
that badge of honour to demonstrate your
leadership,” she said. “A Salmon-Safe label
speaks to that leadership and can really dif-ferentiate
you in the marketplace.
“People want to see that businesses
are not only making a quality product, but
they’re also doing the right things in creat-ing
that quality product.”
Fresco says Salmon-Safe participants
can rely on the Fraser Basin Council to help
spread that positive message.
“When we certify producers, there is a
lot of online marketing that we do through
social media and through the Fraser Basin
Council network,” she said. “We like to cel-ebrate
and tell the stories of the producers
who are really doing this kind of leadership.”
Fresco notes the Fraser Basin Council is
currently considering opening up Salmon-
Safe eco-certification to hop producers and
craft breweries in B.C., and there’s also been
discussions of broadening the program to
other areas within the country.
“We’ve been asked about it by various
folks across Canada,” she said, adding that
there aren’t any immediate plans to expand,
mainly due to current capacity restraints.
Those interested in learning more about
the Salmon-Safe program in B.C. can visit
www.fraserbasin.bc.ca/water_salmon-safe.html.
Photos courtesy of Tantalus Vineyards and Sage Hill Estate Winery
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