Anyone who lives, works or owns a business in Napa County knows that wildfire is no longer just a seasonal threat. It is a permanent challenge to our safety and economic survival. When a catastrophic fire rips through our hillsides, it doesn’t just destroy trees. It threatens homes, chokes our vineyards with smoke, compromises our drinking water and drives up insurance premiums for every single resident. At the Land Trust of Napa County, we manage 22,000 acres of open space. We view this land not just as a scenic backdrop, but as a critical buffer zone for our communities. However, wildfire doesn’t care about property lines or ownership boundaries. To truly protect Napa, we cannot afford a patchwork approach to safety. We need a coordinated, proactive defense.
That is why our organization is supporting Measure B, officially known as the Napa County Wildfire Preparedness, Watershed Protection and Open Space Preservation Act of 2026. It represents a smart, fiscally responsible investment in our county’s future.
Since the catastrophic fires of 2017 and 2020, our community including Napa Firewise and LTNC, have invested millions of dollars to mitigate and prevent future catastrophic wildfires. Measure B supports and sustains the pace and scale of that prevention work. By dedicating a half-cent sales tax to wildfire safety and open space, we create a stable, locally controlled fund of $23 million annually. Crucially, 50% of these funds are locked into wildfire safety grants prioritized by firefighters and administered transparently by the Board of Supervisors. This money doesn’t go into the General Fund, it will be used for clearing hazardous brush, maintaining containment lines and fire-safe evacuation routes across the entire county.
This is a direct investment in what I call the “stewardship economy.” Every dollar raised stays right here in Napa. At the Land Trust, we have already executed aggressive fire mitigation projects, thinning hundreds of acres across critical zones like Linda Falls, Okin, and Duff. To do this work, we didn’t hire outside consultants. We hired local Napa contractors, pumping money back into our local businesses, equipment operators, and laborers. Measure B will allow our entire community to scale up and sustain these exact types of local projects to a landscape level. The remaining 50% of the funds will go directly to the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District. For twenty years, our local park district has done incredible work without any dedicated funding, relying instead on a small annual contribution from
the county budget and highly competitive, unpredictable grants. Secure funding will safeguard the public lands upstream from the reservoirs that supply our drinking water in Napa, Calistoga, St. Helena and Yountville, while also funding wildfire and forest resilience work as well as establishing accessible trails and parks within 10 minutes of where our residents live.
Fiscally prudent voters have rightly questioned government-driven tax hikes that lacked sufficient accountability. Measure B is different. It is a citizen-backed initiative with strict taxpayer protections. It requires an independent oversight committee and mandatory public audits to ensure every cent is spent exactly as promised. It also explicitly exempts daily necessities like groceries and prescription medicine from the tax.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We can pay a fraction of a cent on retail purchases today to clear the brush, or we can pay the catastrophic costs of rebuilding our infrastructure and losing our livelihoods tomorrow.
Because this is a citizen-led initiative, Measure B needs a simple majority of voters to pass this November. Let’s take control of our safety and protect the home we love. Please join the Land Trust of Napa County, Napa Firewise, local firefighters, and your neighbors in voting YES on Measure B.
Melanie Parker, CEO
Land Trust of Napa County
