DFW Offers Suggestions on How to Protect Wildlife While Maintaining a Compliant Grow

Tips for cultivators DFWPress release from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife:

California is home to an array of unique plants and wildlife, including many threatened and endangered species found nowhere else in the world. Protecting these precious resources is at the heart of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

Like many agricultural crops, cannabis cultivation has the potential to impact fish and wildlife. To help cultivators and other farmers reduce environmental impacts, CDFW is offering wildlife friendly tips for those engaged in farming activities.

“We all have an obligation to be good stewards of the watershed,” said Sunshine Johnston Owner and Operator of Sunboldt Grown. “Farmers of all types can utilize the natural aspects of the surrounding ecosystem and let nature do the work for you. With this approach, native wildlife and plants can have a role on your farm while improving sustainability.“

Below are suggestions for utilizing natural resources and coexisting with wildlife:

Post Bat Boxes – Bats eat millions of insects each night and can help control pesky insect populations, reducing the need for harmful pesticides. To encourage bats on your property, install bat boxes. These are artificial roosts that allows bats to live in an area with otherwise limited roosting habitat. To learn more about utilizing bat boxes visit: https://batworld.org/bat-house-information/.

Post Owl Boxes – Similar to bat boxes, providing owl boxes on your property can encourage these handy raptors to help control rodent populations. Reliance on harmful rodenticides which impact the entire food chain (including mountain lions) can be significantly reduced when you let owls do the work for you. Learn more at: www.ucdavis.edu/one-health/how-build-owl-box/.

Location Selection – Location is everything for a business and commercial cannabis cultivation is no exception. To reduce impacts to sensitive habitats and avoid engaging in take of listed species during cultivation or construction activities, research your location thoroughly. Some parcels are better suited for farming activities as compared to other locations near sensitive streams or with listed species on or near the property. Your regional CDFW representative can provide feedback on your proposed cultivation site and how to address potential impacts to fish and wildlife resources.

Employ Companion Planting – Some plant species naturally repel pests. By planting these types of crops adjacent to cannabis, you will have another ‘natural’ insecticide and can be less reliant on the more toxic alternatives that often move from points of application through spray drift, surface runoff or irrigation return flows.

Use Natural Vegetation – Retaining natural vegetation around the property will result in a more diverse landscape with more food resources, nest sites, and shelter for bird species that forage on insects and predators that prey on small mammals. The natural vegetation will also help animals to move around without being seen or disrupted by interactions with people.

Choose the Right Crop for the Right Climate – To reduce water use during the hot summer months, cannabis cultivators can choose a cannabis strain that is best suited for the climate in which it is being produced. The right strain, for the right location, in the right amount is a win-win for all. This will help produce a plant with better yields that is more environmentally friendly.

If you are a cannabis cultivator and have ideas for helping native wildlife or have questions about the suggestions, please email [email protected]. For more information on upcoming permitting workshops, please visit www.wildlife.ca.gov/cannabis and click on the events tab.

CDFW encourages cannabis cultivators to obtain a state license with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (which includes notifying CDFW about any proposed activities), a county permit, permits from the State Water Boards and implementing best management practices to reduce environmental impacts.

To report environmental crimes such as poaching or water diversions, please call the CalTIP hotline at (888) 334-2258 or text “CALTIP” followed by a space and the desired message, to 847411 (tip411).

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Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago

🕯🌳Good morning Kym and thank you for that information.

C'mon 2020 elections
Guest
C'mon 2020 elections
4 years ago

Is this how fume and the furor of Fish and wildlife does it.(conflict of interest theif)

Notbuyinit
Guest
Notbuyinit
4 years ago

Also it helps immensely if you are Eric Sklar the President of fish and game who gets veto power over your competitions permit applications. Competition can be the worst kind of pest and eliminating that can be even more effective than installing bat boxes.

Farce
Guest
Farce
4 years ago

Good info! But not enough. We should be seeing more of this from CDFW. The only area I agree with them anymore is in protecting our watersheds and wildlife. But in general I have no respect left for this “Turn in all your neighbors” corporate profits-cop agency.

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago

“DFW Offers Suggestions on How to Protect Wildlife While Maintaining a Compliant Grow”

My recommended headline back to CDFW —

Northern California OG Offers Suggestions on How To Protect Human Dignity While Maintaining A “Legal” System

1) No military personnel ,weapons nor technology allowed.
2) Raid technicians shall be non-enforcement.
3) Raids will be discoveries of information.
4) Removal of cannabis plants not allowed in the discovery faze.
5) Personal property of raid victims will be protected by criminal sanctions.
6) Asset thefts will be threated as theft.

It’s time to put the shoe on the other foot, they’ll not change until they’re stopped. Terror tactics as we’re used to need to be classified as criminal behavior. Prosecution of crimes against cannabis cultivation shall be conducted by the new CBCE, the California Bureau of Cannabis Equality. The CBCE will be composed of unpaid volunteers. No more splitting “legal” from illicit.

Central HumCo
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Rod Gass

Compliant Grow

~these semantic deceits have given rise to endless confusions, usurpations, and criminality.

“Comply” means to conform or adapt one’s actions to another’s wishes, to a rule.

“Compliance” means the art or process of complying to a desire, demand, or proposal or to coercion.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compliance

My definition of comply – bend over and grab your ankles.

Sparkle Mahn
Guest
Sparkle Mahn
4 years ago
Reply to  Rod Gass

Excellent!

Mr. Tambourine Man
Guest
Mr. Tambourine Man
4 years ago

Can this be incentivized?

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago

Yeah, I wrote what I mean. Cannabis cultivators have always been subjected to the towns’, the counties’, and finally by election, state controlled atrocities. Just because some disrespected Federal idiot in 1934 said cannabis is bad, didn’t make it so. Why are these so called enforcers encouraged to pillage and plunder themselves through peaceful settlements? The encouragement needs to be reversed.

Remove the uncontrolled, salaried enforcers, and peace will return.

Really?
Guest
Really?
4 years ago
Reply to  Rod Gass

Because for every person growing pot, there are four or more neighbors impacted by the grows. The same people who think that mountain lions should be protected are the people, already having decided for property owners what they can do on their own property to eliminate a predator, cut timber, use water, have a very short way to go to up enforcement of pot grows. They were very comfortable making the fines and fees pay for enforcement in Prop 64.

Some grower already trotted out that quote about authority coming for you next. Well, they came for vegetable growers, chicken farmers, dairy farmers, ranchers, etc, long ago and did pot growers line up to protest? If growers had been legal, they would not be surprised surprised at any of this. But once this spasm of enforcement has run its course, a few judge’s ruling set limits, it will get quieter.

Willow Creeker
Guest
Willow Creeker
4 years ago
Reply to  Really?

Well all the complainers here need to remember why pot is here in the first place. Because it’s illegal, and this is a lawless place and you can make decent money taking a risk and growing a beautiful plant that grows well here and that the rest of the country wants to buy. So stop whining about enforcement, it’s a part of the balance. No enforcement, we get what happened here in the 2000’s. A total shit show.
The right level of law enforcement, to scare away the lightweights, and the big criminals, is a good thing for the local cannabis outlaw community. In my opinion.

bottomline
Guest
bottomline
4 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

kudos

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

Baloney to WC

Pot is here because people want it. Enforcement is part of the punishment, it has nothing to do with a balance. The balance would need to be some sort of reward.

“The right level of law enforcement, to scare away the lightweights, and the big criminals, is a good thing for the local cannabis outlaw community. — Unbelievable. Total cop-out. Wrong.

Willow Creeker
Guest
Willow Creeker
4 years ago
Reply to  Rod Gass

So I take it you are a fan of the scene here for the last ten years or so? The big Bulgarian grows, the spike in murders, the greenrusher idiots all over the place? I hate to romanticize the old daze, but there was very little violence, mostly professional outside-the-box-types making a good life for themselves in the country. Sure, you had to beware of the choppers and occasionally lost a crop but, if you were good you could make a great life here. Now it’s all gone. If you blame too much enforcement, you are being myopic. It’s exactly the opposite; too easy to be an outlaw lately. It has attracted all kinds of shitty people that never would have been into the lifestyle before.
And this from someone who has been ‘enforced upon’ in the past.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

👍

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

You can count me into the Norcal cultivation scene for the past 47 years. My children, grand, great are here too. Count however you’re comfortable.

I love to romanticize the old days. Please refrain from calling me shortsighted. I just don’t like your position nor attitude.

I too have been assaulted, kicked, punched and had my face squashed into the dirt by some 20 year-old enforcer, straight out of academy. You deal with that form of treatment, I’ll avoid it.

You realize that you inviting enforcers into your space is dumb. You can’t control them. They tend to rely on animal-like aggression. So why do that?

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago
Reply to  Really?

Yes Really

“They were very comfortable making the fines and fees pay for enforcement in Prop 64.”

Too comfortable they were/are/will continue.

I’m certain you would enjoy reestablishing their comfort level.

Probably getting daleted !!! 1rst amendment
Guest
Probably getting daleted !!! 1rst amendment
4 years ago

Not as long as fume of napa is in charge,MR conflict of intrest himself. Time for new representation people,unless you like living a land of no rights !!!! Corporate politics and sell out politicians are the end of our freedom,and the end of our constitution.

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago

So what’s the fine for not having a bat or owl box? Site selection? If it was up to FG they will “site selection” us right out of our homes!!
That being said.. bat and owl boxes are great! I also use castor oil products on my stocks and sometimes hot pepper wax, and I rarely have a problem w/ mice..

Sparkle Mahn
Guest
Sparkle Mahn
4 years ago
Reply to  SmallFry

When it comes to mice, nothing works better than a good old CAT!

guest
Guest
guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Sparkle Mahn

meow !!!

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago
Reply to  Sparkle Mahn

I swing both ways.. lol.. I have dogs and cats., the cats tought the dog how to chase mice, now the dogs are excellent mousers as well.. lol.. And they get along surprisingly well.. Meow.. Woof.. The homestead is a micro ecosystem.. lol..

Farce
Guest
Farce
4 years ago
Reply to  SmallFry

SmallFry- Good to know! Do you have a recipe to share or are you going to keep it secret and market it like the Plant Therapy did? They did a great job creating their useful product- I only wish it was less expensive! Anyways- if people are still able to use nasty chemical pesticides on their “good player” permitted mega-grows….well, isn’t there something very wrong with that scenario?!! CDFW….you’re okay with this but my theoretical 40 plant unpermitted using natural oils and essential oils as insecticide would be a heinous and heavily fined environmental crime?!! The hypocrisy is blatant and it is showing…

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago
Reply to  Farce

No, absolutely no secrete with the castor oil! I just get the hose end sprayer with castor oil in it and spray the under canopy stalks in cool temps.. Works wonders.. sometimes a few applications.. If it’s really bad, I have put it directly on the stalks concentrated.. or like 1/2 deluged. It may burn stalks of smaller plants, so do a couple first as a test batch.. If it continues, I will break out the hot pepper wax. That will burn the stocks too concentrated. so definitely need to do some testing overnight first. I spray a light cover in the soil as well.to discourage nesting! Be sure to cover eyes though.. safety googles! Not a good thing for eyes! It works much better than poision. Because it’s an actual defense.. the castor is very bitter, and it makes the plant less palatable for them. It works for water lines too! I am actually very glad to share that info if it keeps poision out of the woods!
But yeah.. I am the “bad player” while big “permitted Grows” dump rodenticides everywhere.. (not to say all do)…

Willow Creeker
Guest
Willow Creeker
4 years ago
Reply to  SmallFry

I found that straw mulch while having many good benefits, does attract mice which will eat stalks. I tried no mulch last year and it completely stopped. I like the castor oil idea though!

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

Yeah, those little buggers, they LUV any mulch..
But One could probably easily make your own castor oil deterant as well.. the other thing that mice really avoid, I have found that works with results ( sometimes limited) Is peppermint.. They hate it.. to clean smelling for them or something.. lol

I would take like a liter of water, some peppermint oil.. some cloves..(not to strong) some castor oil, and a couple hot peppers..maybe 1/4 cup per liter of water.. apply on lower stalks..make solution stronger or weaker depending on results… home made version.. it will probably work a bit in the house too. At least peppermint works for me.. Lol

Thomas Road Oldie But Moldie
Guest
Thomas Road Oldie But Moldie
4 years ago

Good info. And! I am looking for companion plants to put outside some cannabis grow bags, to soak up any escaped nutrients and water. We are careful, yet I want to do all I can to protect the small area that has a 6 personal use plant grow.
So. I was going to write to the email address posted above….. UNTIL I came to believe that is associated with CDFW. I will not give my email address to CDFW! Don’t trust them! I don’t want them to have ANY opportunity to get data on me.
Any other options?

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago

Marigolds, lavender, oregano, basil, calendula is great. Basically herbs… or flowers are awsome! I have heard sunflowers dwarf other plants around them thru chemicals.. so not sunflowers. But That’s a good idea! To soak up the nutrients..My opinion, stay away from Squash or anything that gets powder mold or botritus really bad… Basic stuff, most already know, but just some suggestions.. Course you might need a permit for some of those herbs.. I can’t say.. hopefully not! Lol

tech
Guest
tech
4 years ago

Yeah, it is best to keep CDFW out of your life at all costs. Nothing ever good comes from talking to them. Soon they will be coming after people for their domestic use springs even if you don’t even grow. As for the other topic… Clover makes a great cover crop and companion plant. Plus it is a nitrogen fixer.

Life is Good
Guest
Life is Good
4 years ago

DFW. Nothing more than a shill for the Franchise Tax Board.

Silverlining
Guest
Silverlining
4 years ago

Like people that moved here 40 years ago to protect wildlife need any suggestions from an extortion outfit.
Go back to busting people fishing and hunting illegally will you?
Owl box.
I thought that was trees were for.
Maybe they were thinking of Rainbow Ridge and the removal of forests that might actually reduce the number of owls.
We have plenty of both owls and bats down here.
But thanks for the suggestion that everyone already knows about.
How about keep your hands out of peoples pockets

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago
Reply to  Silverlining

Thank you.

You’ve explained how simple and just my idea is. The state doesn’t have a right to harm you over pot. So why pay them to harm you ?

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago
Reply to  Silverlining

Exactly Silverlining!

The Real Brian
Guest
The Real Brian
4 years ago

Theres a lot of non-local city folks coming from out of state and out of country.

Most of them know absolutely nothing of semi or very rural living.

I applaud these agencies putting this information out to people.

Hopefully there are paper copies in every Planning Dept. and consulting agency within the E. Triangle.

C'mon 2020 elections
Guest
C'mon 2020 elections
4 years ago

Vote em all out,our next candidate’s should be campaigning with promises to slash funding for the constitution breaking ss extortion ring called department of fish and wildlife!!!!!

Squeaky
Guest
Squeaky
4 years ago

My neighbors, Xotic Flavorz, run fans and generators 24/7, 10 months out of the year. There are no bats or owls left in my neighborhood. The Planning Department allows growers to make as much noise as they want, up to 60 decibels, which is about 30 decibels higher than the average level for rural areas. There is also no legislated “quiet time” like many urban areas have. CDFW should be focusing on reining in John Ford and Rex Bohn instead of telling growers to install bat and owl boxes!

Farce
Guest
Farce
4 years ago
Reply to  Squeaky

Oh- and don’t forget to turn in all your unpermitted and untaxed neighbors for growing weed!! As per CDFW advice….

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Farce

What the hell Farce. That was completely uncalled for.
Yes, let’s just all cower and accept bad players that have no regard for their neighbors. Let’s all be afraid of being labeled “snitches” because someone has degraded your quality of life on your own property. What kind of “divisiveness ” are you perpetuating by that snide remark?

ernestine
Guest
ernestine
4 years ago
Reply to  Yeah,sure

I believe farce was using sarcasm on the audience.

Truthwillunfold
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  ernestine

Interesting that a federal agent can invest in something that is federally illegal

Central HumCo
Guest
4 years ago

~i guess as long as you’re “Compliant” you can use Glyphosate.

Judge reduces Sonoma Co. man’s $80 million award from Monsanto to $25 million | 15 July 2019 | A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday reduced an 80 million award levied against Monsanto Co. to 25 million for a Sonoma County man who claimed the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria upheld a jury award of approximately 5 million in compensatory damages to Edwin Hardeman, 70, of Santa Rosa, but said that guidelines in a 2013 Supreme Court decision required him to reduce the jury’s 75 million in punitive damages to 20 million.

Jury tempering, much?

F Wildlife needs to go.

Central HumCo
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

**Jury tampering**

Central HumCo
Guest
4 years ago

Off topic, but the main subject.

~this week’s chapter of inevitable climate collapse:

Global Alert News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aGmXgJD99s&feature=em-uploademail 55 mins July 20 #206

We MUST reach a critical mass of public awareness on these issues.

Truthwillunfold
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

Interesting that a federal agent can invest in something that is federally illegal

Truthwillunfold
Guest
4 years ago

Apparently Erick sclar was in Redding two months ago having a meeting. I can’t remember what cannabis company he’s invested in I saw it in another comment somewhere.