Study Design for impacts of illegal marijuana cultivation on salmonids

A difficult and sensitive study design is being developed to determine the real threat to northern California aquatic resources posed by illegal marijuana cultivation activities. The first step is to define the potential stressors caused by marijuana production using the EPA’s Causal Analysis procedure to analyze all available data in yet to be determined northern California stream systems (e.g. Mill, Deer, Antelope, Butte Creeks). This non-biased analysis will compare the threats of marijuana cultivation relative to historic and present land-use activities in the watershed. Once the threats are defined relative to other land-use activities, the next step is to accompany law enforcement personnel to secured marijuana fields to measure water quality and physical habitat impacts using standardized procedures. From this information and data, specific sampling protocols will be developed and communicated to all agencies involved with water resource protection. Work done under the previous grant refined some techniques and discovered some discrepancies with the original process. Additional goals are to better understand the effect of marijuana cultivation on anadromous fish; identify and prioritize areas to protect and/or restore; and to develop a process and/or data that can be used to quantify those effects. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to reduce and/or remove the negative effect of illicit marijuana cultivation on natural resources and to allow law enforcement to be more effective in prosecuting civil and environmental crime. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is uniquely qualified for this project due to the availability of their bio-assessment and contaminants expertise and facilities. In addition, awarding to CDFW allows the appropriate biologists and toxicologists to enter areas under CDFW Warden protection directly after a marijuana raid to conduct tests and collect samples in a timely manner.