Marijuana Crops in California Threaten Forests and Wildlife
By FELICITY BARRINGER, NYT
ARCATA, Calif. — It took the death of a small, rare member of the weasel family to focus the attention of Northern California’s marijuana growers on the impact that their huge and expanding activities were having on the environment.
The animal, a Pacific fisher, had been poisoned by an anticoagulant in rat poisons like d-Con. Since then, six other poisoned fishers have been found. Two endangered spotted owls tested positive. Mourad W. Gabriel, a scientist at the University of California, Davis, concluded that the contamination began when marijuana growers in deep forests spread d-Con to protect their plants from wood rats.
That news has helped growers acknowledge, reluctantly, what their antagonists in law enforcement have long maintained: like industrial logging before it, the booming business of marijuana is a threat to forests whose looming dark redwoods preside over vibrant ecosystems.
Hilltops have been leveled to make room for the crop. Bulldozers start landslides on erosion-prone mountainsides. Road and dam construction clogs some streams with dislodged soil. Others are bled dry by diversions. Little water is left for salmon whose populations have been decimated by logging.
(More here.)
ARCATA, Calif. — It took the death of a small, rare member of the weasel family to focus the attention of Northern California’s marijuana growers on the impact that their huge and expanding activities were having on the environment.
The animal, a Pacific fisher, had been poisoned by an anticoagulant in rat poisons like d-Con. Since then, six other poisoned fishers have been found. Two endangered spotted owls tested positive. Mourad W. Gabriel, a scientist at the University of California, Davis, concluded that the contamination began when marijuana growers in deep forests spread d-Con to protect their plants from wood rats.
That news has helped growers acknowledge, reluctantly, what their antagonists in law enforcement have long maintained: like industrial logging before it, the booming business of marijuana is a threat to forests whose looming dark redwoods preside over vibrant ecosystems.
Hilltops have been leveled to make room for the crop. Bulldozers start landslides on erosion-prone mountainsides. Road and dam construction clogs some streams with dislodged soil. Others are bled dry by diversions. Little water is left for salmon whose populations have been decimated by logging.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
On a side note, as part of the House-rejected FARRM bill, an amendment “to allow institutions of higher education to grow or cultivate industrial hemp for the purpose of agricultural or academic research. The amendment would only apply to states that already permit industrial hemp growth and cultivation under state law.”
It passed 225-200 with 7 out of 8 Members of the Minnesota delegation voting YES … the No vote came from Congresswoman Bachmann.
BTW ... in my opinion, yesterday's rejection of the FARRM bill was proof of the dysfunction of the Republican-controlled House. Boehner brought it on himself when he allowed all the amendments that the Republicans offered which kept making the bill less appealing … with the big one a new `Dairy Producer Margin Insurance Program which Boehner wanted. The Strib had a story earlier this week pitting the battle between Boehner and Collin Peterson … Peterson, who wrote the dairy provision, said the version Boehner supported would allow milk price volatility to continue and force taxpayers to pay more to support dairy farmers. Boehner won the amendment fight but lost the bill.
Ya gotta wonder what’s up next … last term, they extended the old bill through the end of the fiscal year … so they got a little time … but the debt ceiling debate may raise its ugly head again.
And will this the straw that breaks Collin Peterson’s back that he throws in the towel after this term ?
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