Look for the Label Salmon-Safe certification is an eco-label that is independently and third-party verified. For the wine industry, this means Salmon- Safe vineyards proactively work to protect and restore salmon habitat. The standards are rigorous and focus on three main areas: reducing vineyard runoff, protecting water quality and enhancing native biodiversity. In practical terms, this means implementing practices like growing cover crops to control runoff, planting trees along streams to provide shade for wildlife and using natural methods to control pests and weeds.
It’s no coincidence that Salmon-Safe requires many of the same practices used in integrated pest management as well as organic and biodynamic vineyards. However, achieving Salmon-Safe certification involves a whole- farm site inspection focused on watershed impacts—not just in the vineyards, but also around non-vineyard crops and non-cropped areas. Farms are certified for three years and are checked annually during that period to ensure all Salmon-Safe requirements are being met. To date, more than 350 vineyards across BC, Washington and Oregon have embraced the sustainable viticultural practices necessary to achieve Salmon-Safe certification. Find a Fish-Friendly BC Winery In BC, Salmon-Safe partnered with the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the Fraser Basin Council to bring the program to the province in 2011. Since then, more than 50 vineyard sites across the Thompson- Okanagan Region and onto Vancouver Island have been Salmon-Safe certified. One of BC’s first wineries to achieve Salmon-Safe certification was Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, on the Golden Mile Bench in Oliver, in 2012. At the time, the winery explained: “When you think of agriculture, the term ‘Salmon-Safe’ might not be quick at hand. However, salmon—and other fish—depend on farmers more than one might realize. What’s on the surface of vine leaves, grape skins or earth gets carried right into the waterways we rely on.” To achieve certification, Tinhorn Creek reduced the pesticides they used in their vineyards, switched from overhead to drip irrigation and planted significant amounts of native vegetation around riparian zones and in vineyard alleys neighbouring salmon-spawning streams. (Check out the pairing on page 15.)
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