In his sunny office on the edge of town in Arcata, California, Scott Greacen pulls up a slideshow on his large high-resolution monitor. As wildflowers sway in the wind outside a window, a woodsy guitar solo starts to play along with the pictures. Greacen mutes it; he wants to focus on destruction. Aerial images of clear-cut … Read more
Rural watersheds across the Emerald Counties feel the strain as the Green Rush has exploded this last decade. Marijuana gardens are growing bigger and more remote properties are converting to cannabis farms. Pam Walker, a dispatcher for Southern Trinity Area Rescue and a resident of the Bridgeville area, along with many other residents, wants to understand … Read more
Read our comments on marijuana cultivation legislation in 2015.
Under a tight March 2016 timeline set by new California laws regulating medical marijuana, Humboldt County is scrambling at last to write locally appropriate rules for commercial cannabis cultivation. Among the most significant problems the new rules must address is protecting watersheds already overloaded by rapidly increasing pot-related impacts. Some commercial growers say they want … Read more
November 4, 2015 Humboldt County Planning & Building Department Attn: Steve Lazar, Senior Planner 3015 H Street Eureka, CA 95501-4484 slazar@co.humboldt.ca.us RE: Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance – Phase IV Dear Mr. Lazar, The following comments are offered on behalf of the board, staff, and supporters of Friends of the Eel River. FOER advocates for … Read more
In recent years, Humboldt County’s marijuana industry grew exponentially in size and destructive impact. Dubbed the “Green Rush,” greed and disregard for the environment prevailed. In an effort to assert local control over the marijuana industry, Humboldt County recently issued a draft Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance. As written, however, the draft ordinance would grandfather … Read more
The controversial political action group California Cannabis Voice-Humboldt (CCVH) has been adorning their newsletters and press releases with “#SameTeam” for months now, and you’d be forgiven for dismissing the hashtag as yet more sunny propaganda from a group prone to overstatement and declarations of its own historical import. But today in the chambers of the Humboldt County Board … Read more
“The coho salmon (populations) have been pushed to the brink by logging,” Greacen said. “But they’re being pushed over the brink by weed.” The California Department of Fish and Wildlife helicopter circled over steep timberland in Humboldt County’s coastal mountains, prowling for potential water diversions and environmental damage caused by what is arguably the state’s … Read more
This afternoon, with an impassioned presentation outside the Humboldt County Courthouse, leaders of the political action group California Cannabis Voice-Humboldt (CCVH) unveiled a proposed land use ordinance aimed at regulating marijuana cultivation throughout the county’s unincorporated areas. …local environmental leaders remain skeptical about the ordinance and the process through which it has developed. One of … Read more
June 8, 2015 Matthias St. John Executive Officer North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board by email Re: Comments on Draft Order R1-2015-0023, Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements and General Water Quality Certification for Discharges of Waste Resulting from Marijuana Cultivation and Associated Activities or Operations with Similar Environmental Effects in the North Coast Region … Read more