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(Potheads Vs. Tree Huggers) Pot Farms Wreaking Havoc on Northern California Environment
Los Angeles Times ^ | December 23, 2012 | Joe Mozingo

Posted on 12/23/2012 11:26:16 AM PST by DogByte6RER

Pot farms wreaking havoc on Northern California environment

• Burgeoning marijuana growing operations are sucking millions of gallons of water from coho salmon lifelines and taking other environmental tolls, scientists say.

EUREKA, Calif. — State scientists, grappling with an explosion of marijuana growing on the North Coast, recently studied aerial imagery of a small tributary of the Eel River, spawning grounds for endangered coho salmon and other threatened fish.

In the remote, 37-square-mile patch of forest, they counted 281 outdoor pot farms and 286 greenhouses, containing an estimated 20,000 plants — mostly fed by water diverted from creeks or a fork of the Eel. The scientists determined the farms were siphoning roughly 18 million gallons from the watershed every year, largely at the time when the salmon most need it.

"That is just one small watershed," said Scott Bauer, the state scientist in charge of the coho recovery on the North Coast for the Department of Fish and Game. "You extrapolate that for all the other tributaries, just of the Eel, and you get a lot of marijuana sucking up a lot of water.… This threatens species we are spending millions of dollars to recover."

The marijuana boom that came with the sudden rise of medical cannabis in California has wreaked havoc on the fragile habitats of the North Coast and other parts of California. With little or no oversight, farmers have illegally mowed down timber, graded mountaintops flat for sprawling greenhouses, dispersed poisons and pesticides, drained streams and polluted watersheds.

Because marijuana is unregulated in California and illegal under federal law, most growers still operate in the shadows, and scientists have little hard data on their collective effect. But they are getting ever more ugly snapshots.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: cannabis; climatechange; dope; environment; humboldtcounty; marijuana; pollution
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Pot Growers Pollute Northern California Habitat

Hoopa, California - Wildlife technician Aaron Pole surveys the forest where marijuana growers left piles of trash when vacating the area. The operation was raided by the Sheriff's Department in August, and deputies cut down 26,600 plants in eight interconnected clearings along Mill Creek.

1 posted on 12/23/2012 11:26:32 AM PST by DogByte6RER
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To: DogByte6RER

There goofy windmills are killing the birds and their marijuana plantations are killing the fish. How ‘bout those enviroliberals?! They must REALLY care about “da planet”.


2 posted on 12/23/2012 11:29:28 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (U.S. elections have become nothing but another cheap ripoff of American Idol.)
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To: DogByte6RER

What if the government took over all operations?
Isn’t that the next step?


3 posted on 12/23/2012 11:32:38 AM PST by TribalPrincess2U (0bama's agenda—Divide and conquer. FREEDOM OR FREE STUFF- YOU GET ONE CHOICE, CHOOSE WISELY)
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To: DogByte6RER

So,why can’t Obama sic his EPA on them? Opps, forgot about the Choom gang!


4 posted on 12/23/2012 11:33:28 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (REOPEN THE CLOSED MENTAL INSTITUTIONS! Damn the ACLU!)
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Potheads vs. Tree Huggers ... this should be a good show!
5 posted on 12/23/2012 11:34:08 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER
The scientists determined the farms were siphoning roughly 18 million gallons from the watershed every year, largely at the time when the salmon most need it.

Just by planting upon the watershed, or is irrigation being snatched from the creeks or what?

I suppose it was only a matter of time until the envirogreenies and the potheads clashed. They deserve one another.

6 posted on 12/23/2012 11:34:14 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: DogByte6RER
Why not cross-hybridize pot with kudzu, and then let it grow wild. It would kill the market. Think about it; why buy pot from some dealer when you can just stop on the side of the road and grab some.
7 posted on 12/23/2012 11:35:59 AM PST by political1 (Love your neighbors)
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To: DogByte6RER

If they were illegal gold miners rather that marijuana growers, the EPA would mobilize a joint task force complete with automatic weapons to shut them down. The Obama EPA is a bizarre anti capitalist organization that is stifling entrepreneurship and the creation of real wealth with its endless rules and regulations.


8 posted on 12/23/2012 11:39:33 AM PST by allendale
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To: DogByte6RER

Hmm...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_River_(California)#River_modifications

“There are two hydroelectric dams on the Eel, 130 feet (40 m) Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury, and 50 feet (15 m) Cape Horn Dam, which forms Van Arsdale Reservoir just north of Potter Valley. At Cape Horn Dam, the majority of the water is diverted through a tunnel and hydroelectric plant, and then to the headwaters of the Russian River in Potter Valley and is known as the Potter Valley Project.”


9 posted on 12/23/2012 11:40:13 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Superciliousness is the essence of Obama)
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To: DogByte6RER

But, but, but....growing pot is so green and so natural for the enviroment. Not like the poisonous toxins the evil corporatists spew onto mother nature. (’


10 posted on 12/23/2012 11:52:34 AM PST by tflabo (Truth or Tyranny)
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To: DogByte6RER

Can the rats and Hanta viruses be far behind? Look at that mess.


11 posted on 12/23/2012 11:56:10 AM PST by SueRae (It isn't over. In God We Trust.)
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To: SueRae

yes. of course, no farmer (of beets, carrots, corn, or marijuana) has to leave the countryside looking like a pig-sty.

And most farmers don’t.

the problem here is not the farming but rather the selfish pigs who are doing it


12 posted on 12/23/2012 11:59:19 AM PST by faithhopecharity
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To: DogByte6RER

13 posted on 12/23/2012 11:59:24 AM PST by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: DogByte6RER

To paraphrase the fabulous furry freak brothers:

“Dope will get you though times of no salmon better than salmon will you through times of no dope”


14 posted on 12/23/2012 12:01:59 PM PST by running_dog_lackey
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To: FlingWingFlyer
There goofy windmills are killing the birds and their marijuana plantations are killing the fish. How ‘bout those enviroliberals?!

The contradictions of modern liberalism are truly amazing. Liberals oppose smoking tobacco for the harm that the smoke causes but support smoking marijuana, whose probably just as harmful, if not more so.

15 posted on 12/23/2012 12:04:19 PM PST by Fiji Hill (i)
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To: DogByte6RER

California reaps the benefits of the hippie Socialist Utopia they have created. May their crops always be plentiful.


16 posted on 12/23/2012 12:08:07 PM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: TribalPrincess2U

No, I’d say the next step would be to take it out of the legal “grey area” they have put it in that encourages this recklessness. If it’s not quite legal to grow it, then the growers are of course going to be fly by night operators worried more about getting arrested for drugs than getting a citation for flaunting some environmental regulations. If it’s legal to grow it, the growers will have the same incentives the follow the regulations as any other legal farmers.


17 posted on 12/23/2012 12:14:31 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: allendale
Here in the people's republik, dredging is illegal even though it captures and removes mercury and loosens compacted gravels that make it tough for salmon to spawn.
The arguments the Fish & Game geniuses bought was exactly the opposite. The legislation was pushed through by an Alameda assemblycritter. The lawsuits were intended to be heard in Alameda county, one where there has been no dredging. After consolidation (six suits were filed), it's heading for San Bernardino (thousands of mining claims)and our atty is an exFreeper. (I think he's too busy for his own health)
18 posted on 12/23/2012 12:14:40 PM PST by sasquatch
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To: political1

It already grows wild quite freely in most environments, but the wild plants are worthless for commercial purposes. They must be separated by sex at a certain stage of cultivation, otherwise they will end up with a negligable value as a drug.


19 posted on 12/23/2012 12:17:17 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: DogByte6RER

Many of these growers are heavily armed criminals connected to L.A. street gangs and the Mexican cartels - they are not in the least interested in medical marijuana or the environment.


20 posted on 12/23/2012 12:20:56 PM PST by Mr. Jeeves (CTRL-GALT-DELETE)
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