We’ve just broken ground on a very special sustainability project at our winery along Green Valley Creek that bisects our estate and serves as a prized passageway for Coho salmon. You cross it as you head over the bridge to the winery. This time of year, it’s little more than a trickle and may dry up completely by late summer. But come winter, it transforms into a rushing flow, swollen with fast-moving water.
If you visit the estate right now, you’ll see signs of a major earthwork in progress. Bright orange fencing outlines just over three acres near the winery bridge—where the land is being reshaped, not for vines, but for fish. You won’t be able to miss it as you drive onto the property.
In partnership with the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, this restoration has been eight years in the making and represents our most significant environmental investment to date. The goal: to reconnect the creek to its natural floodplain and create a gently sloped off-channel habitat—a seasonal cove carved into the landscape.
Map: John Green, Lead Scientist/Project Manager Gold Ridge RCD
Beyond the glimpse you catch from the bridge, the creek reveals a hidden world—wild, quiet, and full of life. It’s a magical, almost secret space—a reminder of how much beauty thrives when nature is given room to breathe.
There are tiny frogs called Pacific Tree Frogs (also known as Pacific Chorus Frogs) who play an important ecological role as an indicator species of wetland health—which makes their presence in our restoration zone even more meaningful.
In winter and spring, when water flows are high and fast, juvenile coho salmon and steelhead trout need calm, sheltered water where they can rest, feed, and grow. This project creates exactly that—what biologists call a low-velocity rearing zone, a safe haven during a critical stage of their life cycle.
This is a major step forward in salmon recovery and watershed health—and a reflection of Iron Horse’s long-standing commitment to sustainability, stewardship, and science-based conservation.
Back in the 1950s, before Iron Horse became a vineyard, the land was part of a working farm, planted mostly to apples and other crops. Like much of Sonoma County at the time, common land management practices—particularly berms and drainage ditches—altered the natural landscape and inadvertently disconnected Green Valley Creek from its floodplain. The gentle backwaters and seasonal wetlands that once gave young fish a place to thrive mostly disappeared. What’s left today is a narrow, deeply incised channel with steep banks and swift current difficult for small fish to navigate.
Our aim is to bring back what nature originally intended: calm, protected side channels and seasonal wetlands that fill gradually during winter storms and hold water long enough to provide refuge and nourishment, so Green Valley Creek remains a critical migratory path for Coho salmon.
We’re working in two main zones—upstream and downstream of Ross Station Road—to create:
This is what’s known as “off-channel habitat enhancement”—a beautifully nerdy phrase that simply means giving fish the space they need to survive and thrive. Especially Coho salmon, which are listed as endangered in California. These quiet pockets of slow-moving water can make all the difference in their journey.
Earlier work helped pave the way, including the removal a few years ago of an outdated flashboard dam upstream. And when construction wraps up, all disturbed areas will be replanted with native trees and plants to help restore the natural balance.
This project is funded by grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, with support from Iron Horse. It’s the most comprehensive conservation effort we’ve ever made on the property.
Come to the winery for a tasting and we’ll gladly tell you all about it—over a glass of bubbly.
Cheers to the beauty of the creek and all it inspires!
