California awards $2M to Cannabis restoration projects
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently announced an award of over $2M to be divided between three cannabis restoration projects.
The awards come amid fish and wildlife within the state being “severely impacted by illicit cannabis cultivation practices including unlawful water diversions for irrigation, conversion of lands, poaching, and use of prohibited herbicides, rodenticides, and other environmental contaminants,” according to CDFW.
Because of this, the CDFW selected three water conservation, resource protection, cleanup, remediation and watershed enhancement projects to receive funding for the fiscal year 2023-2024. The combined awards were made under CDFW’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program through the Environmental Restoration and Protection Account.
Awards
Cleanup, Remediation and Watershed Enhancement Funding
• $1,058,501: CDFW awarded $1,058,501 to the “TerrAdapt: Dynamic Monitoring, Assessment and Decision Support for Conserving California’s Wildlife” project (RESOLVE). This three-year project is expected to use remote sensing and cloud computing technology to monitor and assess California’s environmental changes annually and as far back as 1984, according to CDFW. This project will result in identification and prioritization areas for restoration and conservation work for CDFW.
• $862,500: The “Innovations in Reclamation Monitoring: Ecosystem Response to Grow Site Reclamation” project was also awarded $862,500 (Integral Ecology Research Center (IERC)). This project is expected to remediate and restore 10 illicit cannabis cultivation sites on public land that include upland, riparian and aquatic habitat by removing hazardous materials and waste, and dismantling water diversion infrastructure, according to CDFW. The project plans to restore natural water flow and provide standardized protocols for monitoring environmental change.
Qualified Cultivator Funding
• $209, 073: CDFW awarded $209,073 to the “Water Quality with Swami Select“ project (Ethos Environmental). The project is expected to reduce erosion and improve water clarity by shortening and armoring a culvert, installing an emergency spillway on a pond, creating armored dips and other road improvements and installing water monitoring equipment, according to CDFW. This project is also expected to assist a small emerging nonprofit expand capacity to assist other Mendocino County licensed cultivators.
