Overview
- Researchers have identified nearly 7,000 abandoned grow sites on public lands statewide, with only 587 at least partially cleaned.
- Most sites are in national forests, where the U.S. Forest Service reports no dedicated federal funding and too few trained staff to remove hazardous materials safely.
- California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is leading on-the-ground work using cannabis revenues, reporting removal of nearly 350,000 pounds of trash and more than 920 pesticide containers over the past decade.
- The state’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program has awarded over $5.3 million to the Integral Ecology Research Center for a legislatively mandated cleanup study and training program, with findings due next year.
- Field investigations and USGS-linked research document persistent pollutants in soils and streams and evidence of banned, highly toxic pesticides, with poisoned wildlife found near grow sites.