Breaking down barriers to form progressive, action-based partnerships in California
“Trespass grows” are illicit cannabis grows on public lands. Trespass grows constitute one of California’s leading environmental threats by poisoning wildlife on a landscape scale, contaminating water and soil with EPA-banned toxicants , and severely dewatering watersheds.​
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NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
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Today Show "Mexican Cartels are Growing Marijuana in California's National Forests"
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NPR "Illegal Pot Operations In Public Forests Are Poisoning Wildlife And Water"
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Project Goals:
1. Secure and increase state and federal resources for trespass grow reclamation, including training for nonprofit and tribal reclamation crews
2​​​. Increase criminal penalties for those bringing toxicants onto public lands
The Basics:
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Trespass grows account for 40-70% of CA’s illicit cannabis market [1]
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In 2018, 80% of trespass grows are on national forest (NF) lands [2]
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Over 90% of trespass grows are controlled by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) [3]
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Since 2000, over 23 million plants have been eradicated on CA NFs [4]
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Since 2016, over 3 million plants have been eradicated on CA NFs [4]
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Only 1 in 5 public lands cannabis plants are eradicated annually [2]
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In 2018, 90% of sites contained lethal, controlled or banned pesticides [3], including Sarin-based malathion, Brodifacoum/Bromadiolone, Carbofuran, Methamidophos, and Cholecalciferol [5]
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30-40% of trespass grows go undetected [13]
Impacts to Communities
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Contaminated watersheds; communities/tribes at great risk of toxicant exposure
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Reduced flows for fisheries, agriculture, tribal gathering, timber production, etc.
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Negative impact to local and state economy (e.g. costly clean-ups, increased enforcement)
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Reduced access to public lands as “no-go areas” due to DTO grows
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Recreation, hunting and other uses of public lands poses toxicant exposure risk
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Undercuts the legal cannabis market
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Loss in ecosystem services, such as clean water and air
Impacts to Wildlife
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70% of Northern Spotted Owls (ESA Listed) poisoned by rodenticide [6]
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80% of Pacific fishers (ESA Candidate) tested positive for up to 5 rodenticides [7]
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92% of mountain lions statewide test positive for one or more pesticide, particularly rodenticides [8]
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Impacts to Water
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More than 9 billion gallons of water per year are illegally diverted for trespass grows, or 27,600 acre feet (a yearly water supply for nearly 30,000 homes, or the City of Redding) [12]
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Watershed diversion from trespass grows can account for 23-50% of total surface flow [9]
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Approximately 6 gallons of water per plant per day [10]
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Water theft exceeds minimum instream flows for certain watersheds [11]
