Pubdate: Thu, 06 Aug 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Amy Gustin
Note: Amy Gustin is host of The Living Earth Connection and co-host 
of Wildlife Matters on KMUD radio. She lives in Ettersburg.

CANNABIS CROSSROADS

Habitat protection, not profit, needs to guide pot ordinance

We are at a crossroads in Humboldt County. We can either build on our 
rare good fortune of living in a place where wild ecosystems still 
account for most of the land, or we can continue down the well-worn 
path of developing and fragmenting the remaining unprotected lands.

The proposed ordinance put forward by California Cannabis Voice 
Humboldt would not only approve and license thousands of damaging 
marijuana cultivation sites that exist today, it would also 
facilitate the expansion of more and larger cultivation sites in 
valuable habitat.

For decades, Humboldt's forested mountains have endured outlaw marijuana grows.

It was the privacy provided by the forest that allowed Humboldt's 
marijuana production to flourish in the first place.

Over the years, the number of grows increased, as did their average 
size. This increase happened because of economic desires that ignored 
ecological concerns.

The grows that ecologically sensitive people refer to as mega grows, 
CCVH refers to as "micro farms." They compare the scale of Humboldt's 
marijuana grows to fields of corn and soybeans. Of course, no one is 
actually growing fields of row crops on our steep and forested 
mountains, and no one is clamoring to do so. The point has been made 
repeatedly that these marijuana grows are located in important 
wildland habitats, which are being fragmented and degraded by 
clearing trees and other native vegetation.

Degradation of habitat for an ephemeral market, one that will 
certainly decline as more states legalize the use and cultivation of 
marijuana for medical and recreational use, is a very poor decision. 
Going forward, marijuana production in Humboldt County should be 
strictly limited in number and size in order to preserve the 
integrity of our native habitat for its highest ecological values.

If growers aren't satisfied with the profits of small-scale grows 
that fit in with our forest ecosystem, then crops should be grown on 
real farmland, in places like Ferndale or the Central Valley.

We have much to gain by scaling back marijuana production. While much 
of the temperate regions of the world have only small swaths of 
native habitat left, Humboldt County retains a large proportion. 
Despite the ravages of logging, this land remains a viable and 
vitally important habitat for many species.

Protected areas such as the King Range National Conservation Area and 
Humboldt Redwoods State Park are fundamentally important.

However, these protected areas are insufficient for maintaining 
robust populations of Humboldt's largest species.

The field of island biogeography has shown that small areas of 
habitat support fewer species and smaller populations. Smaller 
populations and reduced diversity means significantly greater 
vulnerability to extinction. Large animals and top carnivores, 
especially, need large areas of habitat. Even Yellowstone National 
Park is not large enough to maintain viable populations of grizzly 
bears and wolves within its borders. This has serious ramifications 
for biological diversity, as the presence of top carnivores has been 
found to encourage and preserve biological diversity in their 
ecosystems through a process called a trophic cascade.

What this means for Humboldt County is that areas of private land 
that connect our parks and protected areas, are critically important 
habitats, their health facilitating robust populations and a 
diversity of species.

The amount of development that takes place on these private lands 
will greatly affect the overall biological diversity of our region.

Habitat loss is the biggest cause of extinction. Given that we are in 
the midst of the largest extinction event since the Cretaceous 
Extinction, which finished off the dinosaurs, we need to prioritize 
habitat protection. The number of marijuana grows and the allowable 
size of grows under CCVH's proposed ordinance would take us in the 
wrong direction.

We should instead choose to protect and enhance ecological integrity 
and biological diversity as we learn to live sustainably in the forest.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom