[env-trinity] CBB: CDFW study shows water for marijuana growing likely devastating for listed salmon, steelhead

[Kier Associates]

This morning's public radio news included an update by Lt Gov Gavin Newsom
(a putative candidate for Gov in '18) on the work of his (ACLU-promoted)
marijuana blue ribbon task force, with Newson saying that it looks like
we're going to have a marijuana legalization initiative on next year's
ballot and he wants to get the state's ducks, including taxation and
regulation, lined up now rather than awaiting the outcome of a '16 election

 

It would be nice to think we could get a civil grip on this pest plant and
tamp down its current stream-killing proclivities ..

 

Bill Kier

From: env-trinity [mailto:env-trinity-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us] On
Behalf Of Sari Sommarstrom
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 1:38 PM
To: env-trinity at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us
Subject: [env-trinity] CBB: CDFW study shows water for marijuana growing
likely devastating for listed salmon, steelhead

 

 

Columbia Basin Bulletin

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CDFW Study Shows Water For Marijuana Growing Likely Devastating For Listed
Salmon, Steelhead 
Posted on Friday, March 27, 2015 (PST) 


Environmental scientists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
recently published a first-of-its-kind study that clearly shows that water
used for growing marijuana has a devastating effect on fish in the state.

 

The study showed that during drought conditions, water demand for marijuana
cultivation exceeded stream flow in three of four study watersheds.

 

The resulting paper, entitled "Impacts of Surface Water Diversions for
Marijuana Cultivation on Aquatic Habitat in Four Northwestern California
Watersheds," concludes that diminished stream flow from this water-intensive
activity is likely to have lethal to sub-lethal effects on state and
federally listed salmon and steelhead trout and will cause further decline
of sensitive amphibian species.

 

The study was published online in the scientific journal PLOS One and can be
found here:
<http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0120016>
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0120016.

 

By using online tools to count marijuana plants and measure greenhouses, and
conducting inspections of marijuana cultivation sites with state wildlife
officers and local law enforcement, CDFW scientists quantified plant numbers
and water use. Utilizing stream flow data provided by staff at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), CDFW determined water demand
for cultivation could use more than 100 percent of stream flow during the
summer dry season in three of four study watersheds. Stream flow monitoring
conducted by CDFW in the summer of 2014 appeared to verify these results.

 

"All the streams we monitored in watersheds with large scale marijuana
cultivation went dry," said CDFW Senior Environmental Scientist Scott Bauer,
lead author of the research paper. "The only stream we monitored that didn't
go dry contained no observed marijuana cultivation."

 

CDFW's Law Enforcement Division works closely with dozens of other state and
federal agencies to eradicate illegal marijuana grows on public, tribal and
private lands as well as protect the state's natural resources.

 

"This research paper demonstrates the importance of greater regulatory
efforts by state agencies to prevent the extinction of imperiled fisheries
resources," said CDFW Assistant Chief Brian Naslund. "CDFW's new Watershed
Enforcement Team (WET) was created with just that in mind."

 

The WET program works with agency partners to protect public trust resources
from the negative effects of marijuana cultivation, which include both
excessive water use and pollution.

 

CDFW will continue to monitor the effects of water diversion for marijuana
cultivation on stream flow through the summer of 2015.

 

Marijuana cultivation is legal in California if growers have the proper CDFW
lake and streambed alteration permits. Responsible growers help conserve the
state's natural resources and are less likely to be subject to enforcement
action.

 

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