High Time for Conservation: Adding the Environment to the Debate on Marijuana Liberalization

Carah, Jennifer; Howard, Jeanette K.; Thompson, Sally; Gianotti, Anne G. Short; Bauer, Scott; Carlson, Stephanie M.; Dralle, David; Gabriel, Mourad W.; Hulette, Lisa L.; Johnson, Brian J.; Knight, C. A.; Kupferberg, Sarah J.; Martin, Stefanie L.; Naylor, Rosamond L.; Power, Mary E.

doi:10.1093/biosci/biv083

Cited by 63 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The growth of cannabis is becoming an increasingly important issue in Northern California, and especially Mendocino County, both economically and environmentally (Bauer et al, ; Carah et al, , Mallery, ; Mills, ). Given the current profitability of cannabis production, Butsic and Brenner () expect that cannabis agriculture will expand into other sites with suitable growing conditions throughout Northern California.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drainage from the Critical Zone: Lithologic Controls on the Persistence and Spatial Extent of Wetted Channels during the Summer Dry Season

Lovill

Hahm

Dietrich

2018

Water Resources Research

154

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In seasonally dry environments, critical zone drainage provides base flow that sustains river ecosystems. The extent of wetted channels and magnitude of base flow throughout the network, however, are rarely documented, and no general theory currently exists enabling the prediction of these key ecosystem properties. We conducted channel surveys in early and late summers of 2012, 2014, and 2015 in four headwater drainage networks (2.8–17.0 km2, in the Franciscan Formation of the Eel River (Northern California)), two of which are underlain by the Coastal Belt (argillite and inter‐bedded sandstone) and two of which are underlain by the Central Belt (sheared argillaceous‐matrix, meta‐sedimentary mélange). In all networks, stationary springs controlled the extent of flow. Though surveyed during a period of multiyear drought, the two adjacent Coastal Belt networks remained flowing throughout late‐summer months, sustained by drainage from groundwater stored in thick weathered bedrock above fresh, impermeable bedrock. Flow magnitudes, however, decreased and surface flows became increasingly discontinuous, largely due to infiltration into thick gravel deposits on the channel bed. Only 23 km away, in the Central Belt mélange, channel flow ceased early in the summer because the thin critical zone (typically <3 m) stored little water. All late‐summer flowing water initiated from deep‐rooted sandstone blocks and terminated a short distance downslope. Our findings suggest that lithology and critical zone development exert primary controls on wetted channel extent. Given similar annual precipitation, nearby watersheds can have dramatically different summer wetted channel networks that result in fundamentally different aquatic ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drainage from the Critical Zone: Lithologic Controls on the Persistence and Spatial Extent of Wetted Channels during the Summer Dry Season

Lovill

Hahm

Dietrich

2018

Water Resources Research

154

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“…The environmental impacts of cannabis agriculture will depend upon the land‐management practices, competing land uses, and local laws and economics surrounding cannabis for any particular location (Carah et al . ), but in all cases methods like the one introduced here will help to evaluate those impacts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the overall size of most cannabis farms (or “grows”) is small (<0.5 ha), the large number of grows and their distribution on the landscape have generated concerns over their impacts on forest habitat (Carah et al . ). Thus, as with many other emerging land uses and expanding agricultural activities (Chaplin‐Kramer et al .…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Cannabis, an emerging agricultural crop, leads to deforestation and fragmentation

Wang

Brenner

Butsic

2017

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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Early assessment of environmental impacts from emerging agriculture is a scientific challenge that – if poorly executed – limits sound policy making. Here, we present an approach for evaluating and forecasting the effects of emerging and expanding land uses on natural habitats. By analyzing landscape change per unit area, the effects of emerging land uses can be compared with established benchmarks. We apply this approach to study forest fragmentation in northern California, comparing the effects of cannabis agriculture – a booming commodity worldwide that affects diverse ecosystems – to those of timber harvest from 2000 to 2013. We found that although timber has greater impacts on the landscape overall, cannabis leads to far greater changes in key metrics on a per‐unit‐area basis. Thus, despite its small current land‐use footprint, if changes are not made in the spatial pattern of its expansion, the boom in cannabis agriculture will likely create substantial threats to the surrounding environment. Future research, land management, and agricultural policy must account for these threats.

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“…The footprint of irrigated agriculture has expanded over the past 50 years, with vineyards as the largest water users (McGourty et al, ). Additionally, the Navarro River Watershed is part of the “Emerald Triangle” region of California (Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties), which is home to widespread cultivation of cannabis, and surface water and groundwater use associated with cannabis cultivation is an emerging management concern (Carah et al, ).…”

Section: Evaluating Analytical Depletion Function Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid and Accurate Estimates of Streamflow Depletion Caused by Groundwater Pumping Using Analytical Depletion Functions

Zipper

Gleeson

Kerr³

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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Reductions in streamflow due to groundwater pumping (“streamflow depletion”) can negatively impact water users and aquatic ecosystems but are challenging to estimate due to the time and expertise required to develop numerical models often used for water management. Here we develop analytical depletion functions, which are simpler approaches consisting of (i) stream proximity criteria, which determine the stream segments impacted by a well; (ii) a depletion apportionment equation, which distributes depletion among impacted stream segments; and (iii) an analytical model to estimate streamflow depletion in each segment. We evaluate 50 analytical depletion functions via comparison to an archetypal numerical model and find that analytical depletion functions predict streamflow depletion more accurately than analytical models alone. The choice of a depletion apportionment equation has the largest impact on analytical depletion function performance and equations that consider stream network geometry perform best. The best‐performing analytical depletion function combines stream proximity criteria which expand through time to account for the increasing size of the capture zone; a web squared depletion apportionment equation, which considers stream geometry; and the Hunt analytical model, which includes streambed resistance to flow. This analytical depletion function correctly identifies the stream segment most affected by a well >70% of the time with mean absolute error < 15% of predicted depletion and performs best for wells in relatively flat settings within ~3 km of streams. Our results indicate that analytical depletion functions may be useful water management decision support tools in locations where calibrated numerical models are not available.

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High Time for Conservation: Adding the Environment to the Debate on Marijuana Liberalization

Cited by 63 publications

References 10 publications

Drainage from the Critical Zone: Lithologic Controls on the Persistence and Spatial Extent of Wetted Channels during the Summer Dry Season

Drainage from the Critical Zone: Lithologic Controls on the Persistence and Spatial Extent of Wetted Channels during the Summer Dry Season

Cannabis, an emerging agricultural crop, leads to deforestation and fragmentation

Rapid and Accurate Estimates of Streamflow Depletion Caused by Groundwater Pumping Using Analytical Depletion Functions

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