(Psmag) - In California wine country, environmentalists and vintners have kept an uneasy peace. Corporate overreach and damage to the environment are threatening to fracture it.

Residents of Napa County are losing patience with the wine industry. At the heart of their frustration is Walt Ranch, a proposed 200-acre mega-vineyard that, if it goes ahead, will remove thousands of trees from the steep slopes of the valley. But this latest dispute is also part of a more deeply rooted anger over the corporate powers that have come to dominate this Californian Eden.

Plans for the giant development first materialized in 2006, but communities in the area became really concerned about the specter of Walt Ranch beginning in 2012, when Napa County announced that it would analyze the environmental impacts of the proposal.