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When Wain Johnson took the helm of Mariposa County's UC Cooperative Extension office in 1981, he had a new vision for the county's picturesque foothills, which were historically mined for gold and more recently grazed by livestock.  During his tenure and under his tutelage, 125 acres of Mariposa's rolling oak woodlands were transformed into a successful cottage wine industry.

Johnson retired July 16.

Among his achievements has been his role in reintroducing winegrape cultivation to the area, where livestock income was stagnant and tourists interested in locally produced gifts - such as premium wines - stream through on their way to Yosemite National Park.

"Mariposa had a big winegrape industry in the 1870s," Johnson said.  After Prohibition, however, grape growing moved to the Central Valley, where production was easier and less expensive.

In 1981, Johnson gathered a group of local landowners and county officials for a fact-finding tour of Northern California foothill areas that already had successful winegrape industries.

"We saw places with the same terrain, climate, soils and vegetation as Mariposa - and they were producing wines that rival those from Napa Valley," Johnson said.  "We found that it's a tremendously complex industry, but we were confident that we could produce winegrapes like the rest of the Motherlode."

Soon thereafter, more than 100 people attended a UC Cooperative Extension meeting where UC advisors and specialists outlined the steps related to the development of new vineyards in Mariposa County.  Twenty years later, about a dozen vineyards cultivate winegrapes amounting to $180,000 of the county's agricultural production.  Several have developed on-farm wineries with quaint tasting rooms open mostly on weekends to cater to the tourist trade. United States Congressman George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) owns one of the more successful vineyard-winery operations.

"I have a great deal of gratitude for Wain," said Rep. Radanovich.  "He has shown exemplary leadership while making important contributions to the grape and wine industry in Mariposa County.  I wish him a happy retirement."

Johnson was born in San Diego, Calif.  He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural education at New Mexico State University and worked in New Mexico State's Cooperative Extension system as a county agent, 4-H advisor and administrative educator from 1971 to 1981.

To join his extended family in California, he accepted the position in Mariposa, a county that, because of its size, supports just one full-time advisor in an office on the county fairgrounds.  Johnson has served as county director, 4-H advisor and farm advisor for crops as divergent as winegrapes, olives and livestock.  He has been the local entomologist, plant pathologist and weed scientist.

In his capacity as weed scientist Johnson focused much of his attention during the last 10 years in a continuing battle against yellow starthistle, a spiny weed that chokes out native vegetation and cannot be grazed by livestock.  Scientists believe yellow starthistle had been introduced to California from Chile during the Gold Rush.  For six years Johnson and UC integrated pest management weed science advisor Timothy Prather (now with University of Idaho, Moscow) conducted demonstration trials in Mariposa County comparing various methods for controlling yellow starthistle.  They looked at mowing regimes, cover crops and chemical control.

Johnson coordinated with the county government, CalTrans and the California Department of Forestry to secure $50,000 in county and state funding for the fight against yellow starthistle on public lands, mainly road rights-of-way.

For Johnson, retirement doesn't mean he'll turn his back on his vegetative nemesis.  Johnson will continue to co-chair the Mariposa, Madera, Fresno Regional Weed Management Committee and work with the new director of the Mariposa County UC Cooperative Extension Office, Gary Hickman, on the yellow starthistle weed problem.