You pour yourself a glass of pinot noir and look down at a plate of freshly grilled Copper River salmon with perfectly crisp asparagus lightly seasoned with a dash of olive oil.

The evening is exemplary, except for one thing. The wine you are drinking may have been produced from grapes that were treated with dangerous pesticides. Those chemicals leached into the soil and therefore into the watershed contaminating the very salmon you are consuming.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

For more than 10 years Portland-based Salmon-Safe has worked with vineyards and other farms to become Salmon-Safe certified. Currently, more than 30,000 acres of farmland have been certified by the nonprofit.

Salmon-Safe is a partner of LIVE (Low Impact Viticulture and Enology Inc.), which provides education and certification for vineyards using international standards of sustainable viticulture practices. Salmon-Safe is included in LIVE certification.

"We have a number of certified growers, particularly vintners, in the Salem area," said Salmon-Safe director Dan Kent.

He said many vintners are introduced to Salmon-Safe through watershed councils and other organizations trying to protect waterways.

"They are using Salmon-Safe as a way to further their own conservation and restoration efforts," Kent said. "We used to bang on doors up and down the Willamette Valley and try to get growers to come on board ... but the demand (for certification) has just exploded."

To earn the Salmon-Safe seal of approval is no small feat for wine grape growers. Third-party inspectors look at erosion control and soil management, fertilizer usage, pest-control management, irrigation practices and other attributes before earning the right to become Salmon-Safe approved.

Oregon Tilth is one of those third party inspectors. Tiffany Huson Labbe, Farm Program Manager for Oregon Tilth says that they look closely at whether a property is managed in an environmentally safe way.

"We check stream quality, riparian vegetation and wildlife habitats. It's a great program. It's like going organic. It improves environmental quality."
Kramer Vineyards in Yamhill County was among the first to be certified during the late 1990s and was recertified in 1996. Financially it costs more to be Salmon-Safe certified, but vineyard owner Trudy Kramer said it is worth the expense and effort.

"It's farming in such a way that it's not negative toward salmon," she said. "It's a good idea even if it does cost a little more."

However, she said the additional costs are made up in part when people buy her wine because it carries the Salmon-Safe logo.

Farmers pay the cost of ongoing assessments and verifications to keep the label. Kramer said she sends in soil and grape leaf samples regularly for verification.

When a wine grower is certified for the first time there are usually some changes in pesticide use and fertilizers that take place.

"Typically there are some refinements farmers have to make," Kent said about the certification process. "For the most part vineyards tend to be fairly salmon-friendly from the start."

In fact, many wineries, such as Cherry Hill Winery, choose not to be certified Salmon-Safe, but still abide by environmentally sound practices.

"We just don't have the time for all the paperwork right now," said Ken Cook, Cherry Hill's Vineyard Manager.

But he is interested in being a good steward of the land, so he instills responsible practices even if it doesn't mean obtaining a certification that can be marketed.

"I believe in what they are trying to achieve," he said. "And we may go for certification somewhere down the line."

Meanwhile he uses both LIVE and Salmon-Safe standards as a guideline.

"We don't utilize any chemical pesticides that are not certified by LIVE," he said. "We also utilize canopy management to decrease our dependency on pesticides."

Canopy management is one of the things that both LIVE and Salmon-Safe advocate for.

"By removing leaves and shoots and maintaining an open canopy, we decrease our chances for getting diseases such as powdery mildew and botrytis, which can lead to the use of pesticides," Cook said.

Salmon-Safe is currently working to quantify its ecological impact.

According to Kent they are monitoring the Applegate watershed in Southern Oregon so they can demonstrate the program's benefits. So far it's only two years in, so there are no official results, but Kent says that initial result appear highly positive. Official results should be completed within the next year.

Kent encourages everyone to take an extra look at the wine bottle label and see if it is Salmon-Safe for the protection of the watershed and Pacific Northwest salmon.

"The benefit in buying wine with the Salmon-Safe logo is knowing those grapes are produced in a way that is protecting the Willamette River ... and contributing to a future where the Willamette River will be fishable, drinkable and swimable," Kent said. "Really, for me, that is the goal."