(PD) - Wine Country executives and local water regulators asked state lawmakers for help building off-stream reservoirs to better protect endangered coho salmon, one of several ideas floated Tuesday at a special legislative hearing at Sonoma State University.

The leaders of the Assembly and Senate select committees for the wine industry organized the hearing to explore ways to improve water use and sustainability, increase farmworker housing and promote wine education programs.

Legislators said they were listening for ways they might lend assistance to the industry. But speakers said Tuesday’s gathering allowed them to share new ideas that could be put into wider practice.

“It’s a good way to get out the word about the practices that have worked for us,” said Katie Jackson, vice president of external affairs and sustainability for Jackson Family Wines.

Jackson Family Wines, for example, has decided to pay its full-time employees a minimum of $15 an hour, she said. She also told lawmakers about the Santa Rosa company’s efforts to preserve undeveloped land and reduce its use of water and electricity.

This year, the company is releasing 7.2 acre feet of water from a reservoir from Green Valley Creek in west Sonoma County to protect coho salmon during the drought, Jackson said. The water spread over four months might seem small in volume “but it’s making a difference,” she said after her testimony.

The benefits of off-stream storage came up several times during the hearing. Grant Davis, general manager of the Sonoma County Water Agency, said more growers could capture excess water from big storms and use it for frost protection practices. Such storage could reduce the need for drawing water from streams, thus better protecting salmon. But building such storage requires changes in the state permitting process, he said.

State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, voiced support for continued conversations between regulators and the industry about changes that would permit more storage. If growers were willing to release water in dry periods as Jackson Family Wines has done on Green Valley Creek, he said, “that will benefit some of those challenged streams.”

Assemblyman Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, who chair the select committees on wine in their respective bodies, united their committees for the informational hearing at SSU, which featured presentations from winery officials, educators and regulators.

Vintners and growers in Sonoma and Napa counties “are ahead of the curve” when it comes to sustainable practices, said John Stayton, executive director of MBA programs at SSU. He noted that growers in both counties have set goals within five years to have all grapes grown under sustainable or green practices.