Members of the Buckeye Conservancy gathered along with HSU faculty, local business owners and timber industry professionals last night for a presentation by Sheriff Mike Downey on the impact of industrial marijuana grows.
“It sickens me to see what’s happening to our county,” said Downey.
In a 20-minute slideshow presentation the sheriff illustrated the environmental problems associated with large marijuana grows, including sediment slides from illegal grading, water diversion, rodenticides and hazardous waste leaks.
“It’s getting to the point where I’m asking my deputies to wear protective gear when they go in, some of these sites are so toxic,” Downey said, referring to the presence of chemicals such as DDT and methomyl, which are sometimes used to deter vermin from the plants.
He went on to cite lack of funding for enforcement as a major hindrance to addressing the problems, though he said at this time the District Attorney’s office has a special task force whose primary focus is land issues.
In a question-and-answer session after the presentation, several landowners expressed concern at seeing agricultural land in Humboldt County subdivided and used for marijuana cultivation.
Elizabeth Marshall Maybee of the Marshall Ranch, near Bridgeville, spoke of her anxiety at losing her family ranch and facing the potential of selling parcels to growers. There were many murmurs of agreement in the crowd.
Another landowner said, “It took me 30 years to piece together my ranch. I’m selling it to a 29-year old ex-rodeo star. I’m taking a hit on it. I was offered a lot more by growers. And it’s not just the growers — it’s the kids. I can’t get a kid in Southern Humboldt to work for me for what I’d pay him.”
The Buckeye Conservancy, which organized and hosted the presentation, is an advocacy group that focuses on “the ecologic and economic sustainability of natural resources and open space in family ownership.”
This article appears in Dead and Disconnected.
I share the concern about environmental damage, but as far as getting all freaked out about the idea of agricultural land being used for “cultivation,” that seems a bit misguided, to say the least. Agricultural land is where “cultivation” should be taking place, rather than in indoor residential grows, or trespass grows on public lands or private timberlands.
What we need to do is to simply legalize cultivation on private land, with reasonable regulation and taxation. Take the resources that are currently being wasted on cutting down plants and prosecuting people for cultivation, and instead use those resources to get people into compliance with regulatory requirements, such as water permits, grading permits, building permits, all the usual agricultural requirements, etc. Take some of the money from new tax receipts and use it to encourage/facilitate best practices like water storage, etc.
Regulate water diversion, require water storage where needed, prevent erosion and runoff, regulate pesticide use. Apply that to the grow shown in the picture, and, well, what’s the problem? It’s just agriculture.
Everyone ignores the elephant in the room that factory farms are the most destructive environmental disaster destroying our county. I bet the sheriff eats meat every week, here are some facts from the National Resources Defence Council but check out any scientific publication (government organizations, NGO’s, the UN) :
“California officials identify agriculture, including cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted groundwater.
Approximately 80% of the corn and 22% of the wheat produced in the US every year is used for animal feed.
In 1996 the Centers for Disease Control established a link between spontaneous abortions and high nitrate levels in Indiana drinking water wells located close to feedlots.
High levels of nitrates in drinking water also increase the risk of methemoglobinemia, or “blue-baby syndrome,” which can kill infants.
Animal waste contains disease-causing pathogens, such as Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can be 10 to 100 times more concentrated than in human waste. More than 40 diseases can be transferred to humans through manure.
Manure from dairy cows is thought to have contributed to the disastrous Cryptosporidium contamination of Milwaukee’s drinking water in 1993, which killed more than 100 people, made 400,000 sick and resulted in $37 million in lost wages and productivity.
In this country, roughly 29 million pounds of antibiotics — about 80 percent of the nation’s antibiotics use in total — are added to animal feed every year, mainly to speed livestock growth. This widespread use of antibiotics on animals contributes to the rise of resistant bacteria, making it harder to treat human illnesses.
Large hog farms emit hydrogen sulfide, a gas that most often causes flu-like symptoms in humans, but at high concentrations can lead to brain damage. In 1998, the National Institute of Health reported that 19 people died as a result of hydrogen sulfide emissions from manure pits.
“Livestock pollution and water pollution
Huge open-air waste lagoons, often as big as several football fields, are prone to leaks and spills. In 1995 an eight-acre hog-waste lagoon in North Carolina burst, spilling 25 million gallons of manure into the New River. The spill killed about 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing.
In 2011, an Illinois hog farm spilled 200,000 gallons of manure into a creek, killing over 110,000 fish.
In 2012, a California dairy left over 50 manure covered cow carcasses rotting around its property and polluting nearby waters.
When Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina in 1999, at least five manure lagoons burst and approximately 47 lagoons were completely flooded.
Runoff of chicken and hog waste from factory farms in Maryland and North Carolina is believed to have contributed to outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida, killing millions of fish and causing skin irritation, short-term memory loss and other cognitive problems in local people.
Nutrients in animal waste cause algal blooms, which use up oxygen in the water, contributing to a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico where there’s not enough oxygen to support aquatic life. The dead zone fluctuates in size each year, extending a record 8,500 square miles during the summer of 2002 and stretching over 7,700 square miles during the summer of 2010.
Ammonia, a toxic form of nitrogen released in gas form during waste disposal, can be carried more than 300 miles through the air before being dumped back onto the ground or into the water, where it causes algal blooms and fish kills.
Every year trillions of gallons of concreated animal waste pollute every water way in America.
The growth of factory farms
From 1980 to 2011, the number of hog operations in the U.S. dropped from 666,000 to roughly 69,000, yet the number of hogs sold remains almost the same.
About 70% of U.S. beef cattle come from farms with at least 5,000 head of cattle.
Now livestock use 30% of the enitre Earth’s land surface.
Ten large companies produce more than 90 percent of the nation’s poultry.”
Thank you for covering this event.
I agree that refocusing prohibition resources on enforcing science-based water carrying capacity studies for all water uses in our headwaters would not only impact the industrial pot grows but begin reversing the excesses of the “barely legal” homesteaders that taught the growers all their tricks.
Just wondering: where was Mike Downey during the environmental devastation from “business as usual” 100 acre+ clearcuts during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s? When nearly the entire town of Stafford was washed away because of the same? Did he do any presentations on THAT?
Oh wait… those are the people who voted him into power. My bad!