El Dorado County is adopting Fish Friendly Farming.

The concept has nothing to do with trout farms or other aquaculture.

It's about growing farm crops and raising cattle in ways that keep surrounding streams and rivers clean.

El Dorado County farmers, the local resource conservation districts and a Napa-based nonprofit have banded together to establish a program in the foothills that – until now – had mostly been used near the wine-growing areas of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.

"We saw what they were doing down there," said Mark Egbert, manager of the El Dorado County and Georgetown Divide Resource Management Districts.

It looked, he said, like a "perfect fit" for El Dorado County.

This week, Egbert's coalition plans to celebrate the Fish Friendly certification of 2,300 local acres.

The program originated in the Russian River region in the 1990s as water quality regulations moved in, said Laurel Marcus, who started it.

"It was clear that farmers were going to have to do something to implement these laws," Marcus said.

As a consultant, she helped bring science to the fields to develop land management practices that would, for example, prevent heavy runoff of dirt from farm roads and hillsides into rivers.

It got so popular, "we decided we needed our own organization," she said.

That group, the California Land Stewardship Institute, established a process for certifying farms as fish friendly.

Already, some vineyards like Rodney Strong and Parducci are marketing wines as fish friendly.

There are now a total of 100,000 acres in Fish Friendly Farming, Marcus said.

"El Dorado County is a small fish in a big sea," she said.

El Dorado County growers say certification could help them sell grapes to wineries as environmentally responsible.

"It's a good marketing tool for them," said Ann Johnson, who works with her parents growing 21 acres of wine grapes at Walker Vineyards outside of Diamond Springs. "They're able to put a Fish Friendly Farming logo on their label."

Many of the practices are nothing new, she said.

Her great-grandfather Severin Walker began farming the same land more than 100 years ago. To pass down the land in working order, he had to practice conservation.

"These are family farms," said Egbert. "Therefore, there's more of a stewardship element."

That small farm attitude – as much as grapes – is what El Dorado County has in common with the Napa-Sonoma region, he said.

Small producers don't have the same profit pressures as huge corporate agricultural operations, and do things like plant cover crops, establish wildlife habitat and minimize water use.

There's the possibility that the Fish Friendly Farming certification will eventually enable them to avoid some of the costly water monitoring now used to ensure clean water.

"We need to be getting information that shows people are protecting water quality," said Joe Karkoski, a program manager with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Monitoring has consisted of water sampling and testing, but that expensive process might be used less if third-party certification shows farmers are using methods to avoid water contamination.

"It's in very early discussions," Karkoski said.

That would reduce the regulatory burden on farmers, while giving credit for existing good practices.

Agriculture is generally not the source of water quality problems in the county, said Elena DeLacy, conservation and stewardship project manager for the American River Conservancy.

"I believe most of the ranchers up here are looking after their land," she said.

And except for Hangtown Creek in the middle of Placerville, waters on the west slope of the county are already highly rated, she said.

Fish Friendly Farming certification should help keep it that way.

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