Research Into Wildfire Effects On Wine Country Halted By Federal Job Cuts

CBS Bay Area

February 21, 2025

As Trump administration officials continue to cut federal government jobs, often with little understanding of their purpose or value, winemakers in Napa and Sonoma are angry over the firing of two researchers specifically hired to help the industry after devastating losses due to wildfire smoke.

The 2017 wine country fires that devastated Napa and Sonoma communities were just the beginning. Every year thereafter seemed to bring another huge wildfire somewhere in the state, fouling the air with smoke for the wine grapes to soak up.

"In '17, we lost a little bit of crop, but it was mostly along the hills, and it came at a different time in the season. 2020 is the year that took us down," said Tom Davies, president of V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena. "We lost millions of dollars, just personally here at V.Sattui. As the industry goes, we figure it was about a $3.7 billion hit to our industry."

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