270 Emerald Triangle Cultivators Received Letters that Their Water Rights Are Not in Compliance
Screenshot of @CAWaterBoards profile page
On Friday the 20th, the State Water Resources Control Board’s Twitter account, @CaWaterBoards, announced the Division of Water Rights Cannabis Enforcement Section had “mailed 270 certified letters to residents in Trinity, Humboldt and Mendocino Counties today notifying them they lack the appropriate permits for commercial cannabis cultivation.”
The social media message directs recipients of the registered letters to the Water Board’s “Compliance Notice Portal” which it promises to be “quick, easy way to contact us without having to wait for a return call.”
And again on Monday the 23rd, @CaWaterBoards wrote, “If you are one of the 270 folks who receive a certified letter stating you lack appropriate permits, please respond on our Cannabis Complaince Response Portal. Really the process is pretty easy….”
Taro Murano is the Program Manager for the Division of Water Rights in the Cannabis Enforcement unit at the State Water Board. He said using the portal to begin your water right application takes about an hour if you have your documents ready. There’s a checklist of what you’ll need before you start. Murano was enthusiastic about the benefits of the portal in making communication easier and more efficient.
Murano said he thinks the landowners receiving the Directive Notices in the certified mail are people who probably have most of their permitting in order but something has slipped through the cracks, or they are people who started the permit process, but subsequently quit cultivating and need to document that to be in compliance with the General Order. He said because all the recipients are people who “acted in good faith” the letters are not Notices of Violation, they are instead a notice to take action. Murano said, “What we really want is to get a response.”
In a follow up email, Murano gave further clarity about the Directive Notice,
This notice is a Directive Notice, directing the recipient of the letter to comply with the State Water Board’s Cannabis Policy by enrolling in the Statewide General Order and obtaining a SIUR for their water diversion. This is not a Notice of Violation letter. It is important to convey to [the community] that we are notifying the cultivators of the State Water Board’s cannabis cultivation requirements and would like each of them to comply voluntarily. The State Water Board understands that there may still be some confusion with where cultivators need to go to get fully complaint. This is why the State Water Board also included references to other state and local agencies who have permitting oversight over cannabis cultivation operations.
Murano’s email also said,
If the recipient of the letter is no longer cultivating, or not diverting water subject to the State Water Board’s permitting authority, then they will still need to respond within 30-days of the Notice by going to the Cannabis Notice Portal referenced on the letter and input their response and provide documentation like photos, records indicating their water source…etc., that support their claim for not comply with the State Water Board’s Cannabis Policy requirements. If the information is sufficient, the State Water Board will send an email or make a phone call or letter letting the recipient know that the information they provided was sufficient to resolve the State Water Board’s investigation.
To be in compliance with the General Order for cannabis, ongoing cultivators in an “off grid” setting are likely to need the Cannabis Small Irrigation Use Registration (CSI) which is an appropriative water right. Its the document cannabis cultivators must have to legally store water from winter to summer. It allows cultivators the opportunity to store winter surplus water for summer use in the cultivation of cannabis while they agree to forbear their riparian right through the drought period of summer.
Landowners situated in the riparian zone of the Wild and Scenic sections of rivers like the Eel and South Fork Eel or on a fully appropriated stream may not use the river itself for this appropriative seasonal storage. They must have an alternate source such as a spring or tributary in order to be eligible for the appropriative CSI water right.
Landowners with wells, rainwater catchment or other sources of water that do not require a DWR water right, need to document that exemption if they have received the letter according to the Cannabis Cultivation Water Rights website.
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Water is illegal.
In an old family photo of the Eel River in August of 1966, the water was deep and crystal clear.
Is water only « legal » for agriculture and not for keeping the river healthy?
It is stunning the way many growers deny any harm done to this beautiful land.
It’s as bad as climate change denial….
Nobody denies “climate change” an inevitable event. Of course, as we both know, they changed the name from “global warming” when they found out it wasn’t. Check out the results of the 114 weather stations deployed outside urban areas in 2004 by NOAA. Loved your evidence of a cleaner Eel based on a claim from a 1/100 second photo snippet of time. Is that the weight of “proof” you applied to your climate change belief system. Good luck in the arena of rational thought.
Actually, I mentioned that photo only in that it was taken in August, a month in which the Eel River is now said to contain toxic algae.
I stressed « family photo » to emphasize that my knowledge of the area goes way back, in fact, though not mentioned in previous post, generations before the back-to-the-land movement.
Redirecting streams, using fertilizers, and clear cutting plots of land for grows which then cause sediment to enter the river along with pollutants is of course harmful to the river.
I have talked to growers who do not want to admit that their actions have any negative impact on the environment whatsoever.
That, I think, is like saying fossil fuels don’t contribute to global warming.
Furthermore, that you are so ready to call someone irrational who makes you uncomfortable unfortunately reflects the ugliness of national debate at this point in time.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?11469000
scroll down to Discharge Cubic Ft. per Second.
you can change the parameters to look back a month or more.
the triangles are the 70 year average. The blue line well above that is the flow now.
Go back in time to February, and maybe you can find the 25,000 CFS peak. The flow was 1,000 times what it is now. Carefully timed, there is plenty of water.
The Eel River has higher natural turbidity than the Mississippi River… The construction of the railroad and overfishing into the 40’s killed the salmon runs. Long before the heavy equipment needed to log in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s (the period the most destructive logging occurred) even existed. Not to mention the construction of Scott’s Dam/Lake Pilsbury and the diversion of water to the Russian River watershed for now over 100 years. Cannabis and logging has its impacts but they are overblown and put out of context. Growing has become greenwashed and growers are the new loggers. The state and its incredibly biased employees would like you to believe (CDFW/Water Quality Board) so that their fees and careers are justified to the extent that they have grown.
Exactly Tech!
The pike minnow has by far had the greatest impact on the salmon and steelhead runs in the eel, i totally agree with the rest of your comment
What ever happened to that old hole in the ozone layer? What ever happened to the coming ice age? What ever happened to the anthrax scare? What ever happened to the aids epidemic? I could go on. These are all designed to control people and instigate fear. Just look at Time magazine covers for the last 40+ years and you can see all of this and more. I guess these “crisis” were never really anything to worry about and neither is climate change. It’s bs. Check back in 10 years when they announce the latest scare and this climate change crap is forgotten.
The hole in the ozone was almost entirely closed by the banning of CFC’s. The coming ice age has been countered by global climate change. Not clear how the anthrax letters are related to this. The Aids epidemic has been mitigated very well by a combination of sex education, and medical advancement.
[edit]
If you think growers filled in the river with silt you need to take another look around.
There are spots on the Eel you can still see silt pouring into the water from some clear cuts done in the 90’s.
Stop blaming growers, you sound like a voice for big biz. Timber and cattle use&harm more waterways than any grow ever will.
You can run cattle in natl forests that destroy sensitive habitat abd pollute entire waterways all day long. How is that ok?
I’d bet that even if all growers stopped using any eel water you would barely see a difference.
Part of the riduculous taxing if pot ought to go to a fund to help farmers purchase rain catchment tanks. Easy.
The folks in charge dont want folks to stop breaking the law. Look how many jobs would be gone.
If they really cared about water use abd fish and all that theyd get everyone rain catchment tanks. You can fill hundreds of thousands of gallons off of a roof in 1-2 months depending on weather. Theres no big pools or ways for water to move slower out to the ocean from the eel so lots of fresh water pours into the ocean in winter these days anyways, along with a ton of silt. Catching rain wont affect the river in heavy rain times.
Wow! I would love to see that experiment: “…if all growers stopped using any eel water…”
Then, the river would go back to its condition pre 60s? The timber industry was in full swing and so were floods and sediment runoff but not the pollution we now have.
Cattle, timber industry, wineries, all take a toll but two wrongs don’t make a right, and numerous ones clearly don’t!
Furthermore, as someone pointed out, all the water caught in containment tanks is less water for streams and ultimately for the river and the wildlife and people who use it to survive.
you are grossly over estimating the amount of water needed for weed, the amount of acerage growing weed, and grossly underestimating the amount of water that runs straight to the ocean in huge winter rain events. Plus, you should come on back up here and check out the river. Some holes change season to season. there are still deep clear holes on the Eel today. in fact, this year you can still swim in the Eel and Mattole, it’s so nice. The Water board is one of several water agencies, and one of 12 or so agencies overall that regulate legal weed. Weed has a higher standard than any other agriculteral crop.
And the Mendocino Farm Bureau, among others, are worried about what they call “regulatory creep” that will likely come out of this very stringent control of marijuana onto every other small scale agricultural activity.
~applause and cheers (to what you say. Not the fact of the statement).
Hundreds of thousands? In 2 months? That’s either a heck of a wet place or a heck of a roof. A 4000 as ft roof will generate about 2400 gallons in an inch rain. A 60 inch season rainfall will create about 150,000 gallons. A 70 inch rainfall will get 175,000 gallons. And you need 15 10,000 gallon tanks to store it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGJ8Q72t9mY
Your right i hiked down the eel river a few years back hiked about 80 miles of the river thar is alot of cattle some places were so tore up by cows it was hard to walk and that old rail road that thing is got to go or be fixed thar was alot of old train cars in the river cable’s and alot of METAL in the river and on the banks of it seen alot of grows and tell you the truth i never seen one warter line runing into the river itself but that dont mean thar not thar we stoped at alder point on are journey so we never got a chance to go down river any further than that but im looking forward to starting wher i stopped a d continue on down river all the way down to furnbridge its a beautiful hike and the river has alot of history
Climate change is fake, only dummies belive in those lies.
Your statement is not accurate.
Galileo is probably turning over in his grave…
Eve. Educate yourself…the water has been diverted to the russian river to feed southern CA…dont be so naive
The diversions you speak of, or more precisely dams and hydroelectric power house, are known as the Potter Valley Project, and were built in 1908 and 1922 and in no way explain the change in the river in the last thirty years.
The dams are in the process of being re-evaluated and hopefully at least one will be removed.
Educate myself? What books do you recommend on the history of Humboldt County? I have read several and my family in Humboldt goes back to the 1880’s.
So maybe I am not the one in need of “education.”
Eve. You are great. We all really need to think about our impacts and not just blame the next person. Everything impacts our water and forests.
funny but i seem to recall something around 80 percent of the river being dirverted so that the napa eleite can have their vineyards and sell their over priced grape juice
This began over 100 years ago so doesn’t explain degradation of the Eel since the 60’s
The attempt to “restore” the local rivers after the ’64 flood did more to harm the rivers than help based on stories from old fishermen. This may have been the turning point in the health of the Eel.
hrmm so the lack of water for the population of humboldt from the eel doesnt have an effect on how the river has been impacted by increased use ? farce i say. if the eel still had all of its flow for the last 60 years todays use would hardly be noticable. what you are saying is if you have a well for 100 years and every year you use it alittle more and it runs dry it is because to many people are using the well. ok i agree. to many people are useing the eel. lets start by reducing the largest impact which is the russian and the potter river project. that way the locals can enjoy the fair use of the river and its bennifits instead of corperate farms and eleite wineries that do not give 2 shits about anyone in humboldt
Antichrist. You’re breaking my heart here. No, nowhere near 80% is being diverted! And remember, not a drop of the South Fork is diverted in the Potter Valley Project.
The Potter Valley project is diverted from the south fork
No, it isn’t.
Here’s a map from Friends of the Eel River. https://eelriver.org/about-us/potter-valley-project/
Like all the water diverted from the eel to the Russian so Sonoma county can grow grapes
Not just growers. It first was the miners and loggers then the dams then now farmers…. poor natives and poor environment!
gammon noun
Definition of gammon (Entry 5 of 5)
: talk intended to deceive –Merriam Webster.
//” they lack the appropriate permits for commercial cannabis cultivation.”//
Anybody want to guess what the phony Un-elected water board members don’t have in their possession, or recorded into the public record, that would imply they have ANY authority whatsoever?
Attack jurisdiction. Not the irrelevant claims. If the people are compelled to carry identi-fiction – then, where’s the Overlord’s claim to authority? What’s the one thing they have in their possession that would lead them to believe they have authority over any living, breathing soul? Never surrender jurisdiction!
More and more cartoons in the cartoon graveyard are rattling their chains – is this the meaning of Zombie Apocalypse?
🕯🌳Good morning Kelley. Its kind of like trun about fair play. In the late 1800 into the early 1900 when the people of ,let’s say privilege were taking the land from the people that had lived here for decades if they didn’t show proof of ownership the were either told your gone or killed. Same thing happened during the gold rush.
~your lips move, but i cannot hear what you say. PF
The definition of gammon, above, translates into; i do not buy into the article.
“Lack appropriate permits” above, translates into; Says Who? I’m not asking for anything more than something in writing that would make a foreign entity to the Republic beLIEve T.H.E.Y. have authority over the living, breathing people.
Are we speaking life, or death, over the power of words?
Please change “decades” to “millenia”
Hooray for being Water Boarded! I pay the water board $4800 per year to use rainwater i collect over the winter on my 5000 sqft cultivation site. I don’t take a drop from the creeks or pond. The word extortion comes to mind.
//”I pay the water board $4800 per year to use rainwater”//
Tune-up your Shinola sensors.
When i say it’s fraud. All of it. I Mean, ALL of it!
Over the rain barrel…there is no permit an d no permit fee to collect rainwater. There is no warer right required.
Correct, but there is an enrollment fee, which varies depending on the cultivation spaces’ proximity to watercourses. Even though I collect rain water, the state requires pictures of my collection system, the square footage of the collection surface, and it must be shown on my property diagram map. And I have to record how much I collect each month, and how much I use throughout the season. In 2016, I just had to check the Rain water box on the application, now they want more info.
Escape the trap of corporate imposter government. You’re having a negative hallucination – gov’t is not the landowner. No one can enslave you w/out your permission.
Did you ask for their ID? Qualifications? Credentials? Do you have a sign posted on your property that says;
Shoot Trespassers
Hang Traitors
End Problems
~the better things do not really come out of group-think committees, commissions, or Board of Directors’ present day ‘managing’, or any other arrangement that heads off the capability, sight, and own activity of the individual.
You take not a drop from the creeks or ponds, but instead you prevent drops from getting to creeks and ponds.
No man is an island.
“Over population” and running out of water – What to do? What to do?
Water from the Mad River is still water
True, it’s not like any of us have 0 percent impact. But out of the 6 permitted farms in my neighborhood, I’m the only one catching and storing rain water. One big one proposed to use 600,000 gallons per season of well and pond water.
And I cant help but wonder if my domestic use well wouldn’t have run dry for the first time ever this August if some of my neighbors were growin with stored rain instead of their wells.
the permitted farm by me is still pulling out of the creek and flattened more land then they had permits for using the local yokel guy with a plow.
actually a 5000 sq ft grow would be considered tier1, so that is 900$ a year.
I’m tier 2 with some 3rd party fees. Tier 1 is actually a $1000.
Sorry, I was mistaken. Im Tier 1 high risk- $4800 plus 3rd party fees.
You pay that fee to the water quality division of the water resource control board. You do not pay that fee to collect rainwater. There is no fee or permit for that. Yet…
Doesn’t the water board only regulate dicharge and not storage?
what we need you to do is show us that you are willing to bend over even if you are not part of the people who use the water from their land. we dont want to act like you are in violation because nobody is in violation but we want you to think if you dont do what we say then we will come for you. what a hostile message. i bet nobody is doing anything like this. nobody has filed any of these ‘plans’ because this is just their newest way to see if you will willingly bend over that barrel. what a sham
May those who think they own everything find themselves 250 feet below the place where others holding the same idea have taken the last of the water out of the creek. No response needed.
^^^^^^^^^
This!!
Water water water that is the only legnu dummy’s have to stand on. It isnt a drought out here anymore the streams and creeks are running fuller then I’ve seen in years. Marijuana is agriculture so why is it that these old assholes on here are always mentioning weed and not corn or grapes? Water is meant to be used and there is an abundance of water in norcal. If u dont like weed then u are living in the wrong area and should move and never shulda moved here in the first place. Weed has been being grown here for over 40 years so stop complaining everything evolves and changes stop being idiots and either change with ur area or move to another area. Stop acting like weed is ruining the world lol way bigger issues and u seem like u guys need a life and a hug cus ur obviously sad miserable old people. Sell ur land and move somewhere that people wanna hear ur whiney asses cus all this bullshit about water and weed growing is disgusting
~allrighty then.
That’s what i say. But i have this addiction, called blogituss. No. At this point it’s procrastination, in spades.
2nd day of toot, toot, toot, that chilling-to-the-bones sound of Mother Nature being loaded onto logging trucks; based on being labeled Re-$ource, tied into economic$. “Look at Mother Nature On The Run….”
What’s more disgusting is that public lands are impacted by the way in which agriculture is practiced here.
Taxpayers ought to be able to take their kids and pets to a park along the Eel River without worrying about getting poisoned by toxic algae.
yes drive your suv to the river with your “kids” meaning resource users to play in the water with plastic toys and water bottles. yes that is more important than someone elses right to live off their land and use the water that falls onto it.
how about instead the goverment pays the land owners rent for the use of their land that the streams take up ? how about the goverment being held responsible for any and all damage to the land owners property from flooding and land slides caused from excess watet run off ?
see they want to own the water but not be subject to the effects it has upon others.
Fess up. I don’t think you’ve really been back up this way in a while. Most of your outrage is generated by old or disproven cliches about Humboldt, that are frequently trotted out in media from the “outside”.( an example actually comes from a recent article in the Times Standard where the author wasn’t able to hide their disgust that 90% of weed farms in Humboldt “watersheds” were still not fully state permitted. The Article infers that there are parts of Humboldt that are watersheds, and that the weed is situated in those. He seemed to not understand that every inch of land in Humboldt, whether it is the Arcata Bottoms, or a parcel in Salmon Creek IS ALL IN A WATERSHED! The real story- had he interviewed one of the applicants-was that the permitting process is a mess, one can behave compliantly, but get caught in a bureaucratic runaround.)
“public lands are impacted by the way in which agriculture is practiced here.”
That is a pretty broad statement. In truth almost nobody goes out and grows guerilla style anymore, especially in Humboldt. It may occur more as you head back closer to I-5, but generally, pretty rare in Humboldt over the last twenty years.
There are some douche bag, johnny come latelys, every neighborhood has their assholes, but by and large “the way in which agriculture is practiced up here” is like how your grandma practiced it: a quarter acre or so at a time.
Actually, there’s nothing to “fess up” about.
I work at a motel and have been here during the tourist high season for the last thirty or more years. The first time I came to Humboldt was in 1968 and I married into a family that settled here in the 1880s or earlier.
The only thing I could fess up about is that I have never been at a grower’s farm. I read Emily Brady’s pretty sympathetic book and reach my conclusions about damage to the river just by visiting it and comparing it to decades past and by reading as many articles as possible, some published by Friends of the Eel River, some by Fish and Game, some by law enforcement , some by independent researchers from universities and I have also spoken to rangers in Humboldt who are in the process of studying the river.
I understand that people need to make a living… really I do. But making a living is different than making a killing. It seems to me there’s an excess of greed at play in Humboldt that goes way beyond making enough money just to have what you need.
Blessings to all. I hope gorgeous Humboldt is recognizable in twenty years…
“Can’t we all just get along?”
Actually Eve, you are correct, in the fact that unchecked greed has played a major role in Damaging the river. As a cannabis farmer, I fess up in having an impact. However, I would just like to add that many of the policies that $64 has implemented have targeted many small, more eco conscious farmers.. The people who didn’t go big, and pummel the resources. People who have kept thier impact within reason are now being handcuffed in thier homes, threatening homes with unfounded abatements, people who have been here years and years. While they encourage large ticket growers who also have an impact.. some good, many not…
Thank you for understanding people need to make a living. I hope people can understand that we also need to protect the common good, such as the fish and the rivers. And the bitter truth, it wasn’t happening voluntarily.
Apologizing to the river, will not clean it. Apologizing to the community for damaging the river, would be a good intention, but it won’t restore it. It’s true.
However, I also think this reign of terror they have implemented on the community is basically intent on punishing and discouraging the wrong set of people.
I sincerely hope Humboldt is recognizable and Gorgeous in twenty years as well! The river will be able to heal. And people across the board can find solutions… Thanx for your perspectives Eve..
Thanks so much for your response.
The situation is complex and the solutions even more so.
I wonder what we can do towards healing the river as we also take into consideration the community trying to survive here.
Well theres your problem! You’re getting all your information from people who are trying to demonize the cannabis industry, so they can over regulate it for a profit.
So if you’ve own your land – your fresh water wells n springs – all on your land – now they wish to feed you for being a self Sufficient farm? Wow
“If the recipient of the letter …(is)not diverting water subject to the State Water Board’s permitting authority…” pray tell, what water diversions are the water board willing to cede authority? City water? As far as I know they want a meter and reporting on every other water source. I know some fools who abandoned their “primary” water rights for permission from the bureacracies.
Actually rain catchment is the “free” source. That and wellwater that “isn’t hydrologically connected to the water table”?!?… Are the sources not under the jurisdiction of the water board.
Well water still requires a meter and reporting for commercial cannabis permit. I thought rain water catchment would be exempt until I read the comment above.
This must be a particular County thing, because is sure isn’t a State or Water Board (or my County) requirement.
Which part: rain catchment or well water?
The comment stating a 4800 fee for rain catchment is not accurate.
For larger storage needs, as agriculture woukd require, a county permit will likely be required for tank placement because of engineering and grading needs.
Here ya go Kelley. Straight from the state water quality control board.
Thats a fee. Its real, but it isn’t a water right fee for catching your rain water.
Plainly stated, if someone not involved in cannabis had rain catchment, they dont have to pay that fee.
Plainly yes, but your article seems to pertain to cannabis cultivation not the plain old topic of rain collection. I’m pretty sure that if a person is cultivating more than 2000 square feet of anything, be it strawberries, greens, or cannabis, according to the water board, the grower would have to enroll in the system regardless of the source of water used to irrigate the crop.
“Plainly stated, if someone not involved in cannabis had rain catchment, they dont have to pay that fee.”
Logic before authority. If you don’t defend your property, who will?
That’s still WAY too much money.. seriously, my land taxes are not even that every year. It’s an arbitrary number, it has no bearing. Especially for small cultivators.. it’s way too steep! They just make up any number they want.. Such blantent Extortion!
Sorry Ullr, I wasn’t clear.
I was referring to the ‘meter required on well water’ statement.
I concede the information may be dubious. It came from an environmental engineer who consulted for the site. I felt his information lacked critical veracity from the get go, but my job was to build the infrastructure not question the, so called, experts. The owners didn’t appreciate my attempts to keep them from burning money unnecessarily, so burn it they did.
You are correct, all water usage not from a municipality needs to be logged or metered
I do know private wells don’t require meters despite the Water Boards efforts to force them… thankfully there was enough of a backlash to keep that from happening, but cannabis falls under an entirely different bureacratic hierarchy. I couldn’t find anything that said wells for commercial cannabis did not need metering.
// “I couldn’t find anything that said wells for commercial cannabis did not need metering.”//
That’s unimportant. They can’t require something just because there no statute saying it isn’t required. Meters on wells would need to be specifically required for them to be required. There simply is no State level (Water board or other) blanket requirement for metering on wells for cannabis.
Now, could there be a related regulation in your county? Yes, but if that county is Humboldt, I still don’t think there is any such blanket requirement.
Do I know of situations in the State where local jurisdictions in specific cases have required well monitoring through metering for cannabis? Yes. (there are cases of such even in Humboldt) Do I know of situations in depleted aquifers (mainly central valley) where the SGMA program is requiring deep well monitoring of ALL agriculture? Yes.
Is there any blanket State requirement? No. Is this even a common requirement? No.
Happy to be proven wrong, but I’ve consulted in numerous jurisdictions and as well, I’m fully State cultivation licensed and Water Board enrolled and inspected (by coincidence was contacted for inspection by the Board just today in fact). The word “meter” has not once been even mentioned for my well or any of my client’s wells.
That’s great. In this case it is in Trinity. I suspected the environmental engineer was wrong and was talking out of his ass. I said as much at the time but was not “bro” enough to be heard. I have no idea who you are, but you have posted with enough detail that I give you credibility. Thanks for the information.
These are all state requirements
Please link a source from the CSWB. I couldn’t find anything.
It’s not as if we were to bus on over to Sac., throw open the doors of the Legislature – and walla! THERE is State.
note – generally, when you see “in this State” – T.H.E.Y. are talking commerce on the murky waters of Oz, the Matrix, in the box, corporate veil, Satanic language of the inbred, psycho rulers of the wor(l)d. Dead.
Whereas, “the state” is you, me, us/We, the People. Living.
~a state is the church in the body of We, the People – the spirit of the people. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” –Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others.” –Jefferson
“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.”–Ursula K. LeGuin, ‘The Dispossessed’.
The county will not allow me to cultivate legally because my property is too small. I pay for my water.
Small growers who do no damage enviornmentally are prevented from taking advantage of “legality”.
This is simply wrong.
You must be growing on a parcel zoned residential that is under 5 acres or be on AG land that is less than 0.5 acres.
Feel free to write to me at [email protected]. im interested in the stories of micro-size legacy farmers who have squeezed out after legalization.
I feel uncomfortable giving up my identity but I live on a “lot” in a “town” but have supported my self (in relative poverty) fo 20 years growing a few pounds. No more. Fear of abatement and inability to become legit has hobbled me and robbed me of any ability to support myself. I am reduced to a government dole at the age of 73, though I am still capable of growing cannabis.
Just like we protect your identity in the comment section, we would protect your identity in an article. You can reach out to me and chat if you want to know how that would work out.
Charging for rainwater————————–only a bureaucrat could come up with such nonsense. But worth remembering; they’re the ones who depend on producers to fund their lavish salaries, and benefits, funded by money collected through force. Lets call the bureaucracy what it is; a sophisticated welfare system. The only difference between straight-up welfare and the bureaucracy is the later must pretend they’re working.
They should start charging for oxygen. I bet you CA will be the first state to create a tax on oxygen.
They already are for the other half of your breath… CO2.
It’s simple === vote against everyone who is in office currently in the next election. Kick em all to the curb. Send em all job hunting, they’ve stolen our CONSTITUTIONAL water rights. I’m a licensed water treatment operator we studied water law in school so I know that in the 1800’s it was amended into the constitution when you buy a piece of property in the United states you have constitutional riparian water rights. CALIFORNIA IS VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!!! oxygen is probably the next tax !!! We already have the air resources control board its coming
We are out numbered by dumb, entitlement whores.
And government employees dependent on government work because they are not sharp enough to make it in the private sector!
“We are out numbered …”
AMERICA’S HUNTERS – Pretty Amazing!
A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion: There are over 600,000 hunters in the state of Wisconsin… Allow me to restate that number: 600,000!
Over the next several months, Wisconsin’s hunters become the 8th largest army in the world. (That’s more men under arms than in Iran. More than France and Germany combined.) These men, go into the woods of a single American state, Wisconsin, to hunt with firearms, And NO ONE GETS KILLED.
That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania, and Michigan’s 700,000 hunters, ALL OF WHOM HAVE RETURNED HOME SAFELY.
Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it literally establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world. And then add in the total number of hunters in the other 46 states. It’s millions more.
_____ THE POINT? ________
America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower! Hunting… it’s not just a way to fill the freezer. It’s also a matter of national security.
That’s why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed. Food for thought, when next we consider gun control. Overall it’s true, so if we disregard some assumptions that hunters don’t possess the same skills as soldiers, the question would still remain… What army of 2 million would want to face 30 million, 40 million, or 50 million armed citizens???
For the sake of our freedom, don’t ever allow gun control or confiscation of guns.
I feel good that there’s an army of millions who would protect our land, and I sure don’t want the Gov’t taking control of the possession of firearms.
AMERICA! Designed by geniuses. Now run by a bunch self-centered idiots. -said somebody sometime
Good point. Never let them take your guns. It’s pure foolishness.
Best post ever!
Water meters on wells that come with a monthly bill for per gallon charge, and a top tier bill for drought months.
Probably will have to pay for the water meter and the 5g tower next to it so data can be transmitted.
5g towers, don’t really know how much one costs, but we’ll start to know in 10/2020..
Yup.
Just put a big magnet on the meter. Or bypass the meter. Or fry the meter with 220. Come on people use your noodle
Ok, the ground sinks when we pump too much groundwater in a season. Sinks and then cannot reabsorb water next year. Causing you and your neighbors great harm.
The cost comes from the problem that the water board has to turn into the water police to prevent people from doing that .
Turn the tables on them. Get together, make your own regional agreements and prove you dont need a policeman to tell you right from wrong. Then they wouldn’t have a legal reason to charge you.
THANK YOU! Fndrbndr, and kelley. (a Given: we are dealing with criminals and thieves, or they wouldn’t be doing what they are doing).
//”Turn the tables on them. Get together, make your own regional agreements and prove you don’t need a policeman to tell you right from wrong. Then they wouldn’t have a legal reason to charge you.”// To the willingly uninformed: read that over and over. Let it sink in. Until you get it. You can’t be a little bit pregnant, and you can’t be a little bit American.
In the American Republic there can be no law that compels specific performance, including the payment of any tax, except excise tax on gasoline, cigarettes, or alcoholic beverages, they must be uniform throughout the states. Less than 5 Americans out of 100 know this truth.
Power is outside the Matrix. Remember, that which is spiritual always comes before that which is physical. Falling down is inevitable. Staying down is optional.
What is the “Contract Clause”?
Article I, Section 10 states that, “No state shall pass any Law impairing the obligation of contracts.” https://thebusinessprofessor.com/knowledge-base/contract-clause-us-constitution/
1. Private contracts supersede judicial review.
2. Private agreements walk all over the commercial process.
No higher order of being would place this kind of control on another if they truly knew reality. Iff you commenters are gonna post the make-it-up-as-you-go, Legal “words of the wicked” – how much, how deep, how long- Try and keep in mind that these are the same control freaks who have Not, AT LEAST, banned Glyphosate!! T.H.E.Y. enjoy on Satan’s johnson (edit?).
Attack the process, as in jurisdiction, not the irrelevant claims.
The California Bagley-Keene Act of 1967
“The People of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them.”
Owen v. City of Independence, 445 US 622 (1980)
“The court held that a municipality has no immunity from liability under Title 42 USC Section 1983; flowing from its constitutional violations and may not assert the good faith of its officers as a defense to such liability.”
What you think, what you feel, and what you manifest, is always a match – every time – no exceptions. You’re either property, or you are the rightful beneficiary.
“Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.” Bob Marley
Emerald Triangle – the hour is y/ours, wakie, wakie.
BullFrogs Kelly.. Maybe on huge farms. If they are so concerned, why are the allowing HUGE grows in the desert that suck the life force out of Ancient Aquifers that are extremely slow to replantish… ? They don’t charge huge vineyard close to the amounts of money that want to charge us.. And which is it, if we use our rightful spring water we’re labeled as criminals if we don’t pay them an insane amount of money, if we use the well water, we’re they still want to find an excuse to peg us from using it, and some how charging us a lot of money.. complete raining BullFrogs..
In a free world, it’s the opposite and visa versa about who’s out of compliance.
Many of the certified letters sent out are a mistake by the Water Board. The letters were sent to cultivators who are in compliance. Apology noticies will be forthcoming.
I’m shocked!
Someone, the ‘board’ at this point, has to look after natural resources. Doesn’t really matter if it’s air(quality), water(quality/consumption), or land(use) itself.
You think just cause you ‘own’ land that that qualifies you automatically?
Pot growers aren’t going to do much beyond keeping afloat trying to profit. I don’t want to be the guy who does it either. So… there is a ‘board’ of individuals who try to keep it sane and fair. If they don’t do a good job, join them so you can be directly involved.
More people, more rules. That’s just how it goes.
I support Cdf taxes for rural properties and I am a progressive democrat. But I think the water board is a governmental behemoth who has gone beyond their usefulness, much like Cdfw or whatever they call themselves now.
It’s enough to make you want to vote republican.
It is WC.. It is.. lol.
I’ve often speculated that growers and hippies in the hills who are democrats would probably not want socialism or any more gov’t control. Seems to me that farmers are capitalists and weed farmers even more so.
Can’t there be some sort of socially responsible Capitalism tho? Not down with the hyper amount of control that the Democrats are issuing lately. Some guidelines, and measures are needed, in my eyes, but this is just straight Extortion!
That’s a great point, toi.
“Of the Earth” is one of the strongest conservative positions possible. It’s not really dem/rep. Erase all politics and the Conservation of our precious Earth becomes invaluable with deep consequences.
It should be clear that we’re about to ruin our place on Earth, unless we conserve. Our consumption of everything available doesn’t create a future.
Some of the certified letters were sent out erroneously to already enrolled participants. The Water Board is sending out apology letters. Exactly how many would be of interest.
dumb sh!ts do dumb things. Thing is, we’re picking up the paycheck tab for nonsense busy work – just how dumb are we?
Last year I got a $3,000 fine for being late on rereporting on a duplicated application. Two apps. same spot. Same applicant, same GPS, same photos, same phone, same name, address, etc. First contact was the fine. Its confusing because there are multiple agencies asking for the same info. The State weed app. automaticaly opens a window to (re)apply to the Water Board. They don’t function at any where near the same level an applicant has to. I’ll probably get another fine this year because the dick on the phone said they couldn’t “revoke” their own duplicate application internally, and didn’t know how I was supposed to.
Im inclined to ask them about this if i can write about it. If you are willing to be public, write me at [email protected]
“Revoke”? the water board’s authority.
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” To the best of my knowledge, attributed to Plato.
Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs
https://phys.org/news/2009-08-false-beliefs.html
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” To the best of my knowledge, attributed to Plato.
Yeah, and look at all the sheep nowadays so quick to jump onboard a thought train devised by leftist politicians.
I dunno about “leftest politicians”, or “rightest politicians” for that matter.
~it’s right v. wrong.
Not lateral.
I got a letter and I am enrolled. I’ve heard of a bunch of them sent out incorrectly. And by certified mail! Our permit fees at work…
I got a letter, and I only have 6 plants. I’m curious if I can just write “piss off” on it and mail it back. Probably not a great idea though
Send a “cease and desist” letter in response.
Unconstitutional corporate Government, functioning on 20th century crony capitalism.
Do not bear false witness.
“You say i owe debt. Where is/are the injured party(s)”?
~also ask for their private insurance and public insurance bond and delegation of authority order.
Either one, a Cease and Desist or a Declaration of Truth Statement in Affidavit Form – figure on re-sending it (Certified w/Return signature receipt), a couple of times. You/we’re not dealing with any form of intelligence.
You need names. Jane Dough Doe, a private female masquerading as a public servant on the land in the Republic. Call their bluff.
`
The Water Hoarders are just Paper Pushing pencil necks who are intent on Pushing themselves more paper..
How is “paying” them ANYTHING going to conserve water? What service do they provide exactly? None. A water bill in town is less than the fee they want, and in town you get Clean Water, delivered to your residence..
Besides, they completely grossly over estimate how much water one uses in a season by an excessive amount, and the forbearance times are too extreme..
Besides the fact that Naturally occurring water on your property should be a right not a privilege to be bargained for… And now they want us to pay them to “harvest rain water” what the freakin F E F.. ?? How about NO…
//”How is “paying” them ANYTHING going to conserve water? What service do they provide exactly? “//
~head of nail.
WHO are these armed public theater performers forcing their flypaper jurisdiction? …..slithering around in unmarked vehicles, in the Triangle.
Exactly Central!
8 acres of rice uses more water than over 2000 marijuana gardens
// “8 acres of rice uses more water than over 2000 marijuana gardens”//
That’s like comparing apples and sky.
To do a comparison between the two, you would have to define the size of the marijuana garden the same way you’ve defined the rice farm.
While rice certainly is (one of) California’s most water hungry crop, I know from the experience of consulting on large, licensed grows, that there are single marijuana grows in CA using more water than used by 8 acres of rice. This is even using wrapped beds and Netafim drip technology.
While the following would be the high end of the scale, I know of well run, outdoor, licensed grows in extreme low humidity areas of CA that have been approved by the Water Board for use of ~4 acre ft of water per season and are actually using it all this season (again through responsible use of drip technology). Rice is around 5 acre ft per acre. Not the delta some might think.
Water usage comparisons for cannabis are complex as the plant is capable of massive foliage and thus its water usage has great sensitivity to environmental conditions.
In the end, there are so few acres of cannabis grown in CA compared to other agriculture crops that such comparisons are really just media fodder. What actually matters is usage not on the statewide macro scale, but on the local micro scale — is the water available (whatever the usage) at that location for the crop without negatively impacting the local ecosystem.
This was a study done in Butte County during the height of the green rush based on the amount of grows in that area at that time. You are right, these are vague numbers that do not coincide with the Triangle. My point isn’t that marijuana farms don’t use a lot of water, it’s that compared to big AG it’s a drop in the bucket. I don’t touch surface water but the vineyard next to me pumps the creek all summer long.
// “My point isn’t that marijuana farms don’t use a lot of water, it’s that compared to big AG it’s a drop in the bucket.”//
Two thumbs up
Four
I just think it’s entirely unbalanced to approve huge Canna farms like that, and then charge small cultivators here in the Triangle an exuberant amount of Money. No doubt growers here in the triangle have an impact.. but I also feel these policies have been enacted to target and burden the smaller cultivators here in the triangle, in an attempt to push the industry into a slim margine of Ag land that is actually largely unavailable thru out the state. Many countries don’t want or accept cultivation. Much of “Humboldts” farm lands reside in coastal zones..
I also contend that thier policies are based on sound science. Or, that they are actually enforcing many of these regs on “permited” farms. After they approved large ones in the hills… It’s all about how much money they can drag from the cultivators…. And they can just arbitrarily change the amounts, and forbarence periods anytime they want. This adgency is out of step with reality. And more instep with large corporate cultivators..
I think if you traveled the State and investigated what it takes to get permitted in many different areas (as I have), you’d find that the bias is a ‘cannabis is different’ bias, not a ‘we’re going to be harder on the small farm’ bias.
Cannabis (state-wide) requires an oppressive CEQA process that other agriculture products do not usually require. Large Cannabis grows are almost always on relatively flat, agriculture land. This land is easier to get through CEQA AND the owners generally have more funds to make it happen.
As someone who wasn’t blessed with loads of money, but was extremely knowledgeable of what was required, I was able to seek and find a parcel that I was highly confident would breeze through CEQA. The average person does not have this luxury. No CEQA process will ever go smoother (or cheaper) and it still took near a year.
Prop 64 ensured the trigger of CEQA. There’s your bias.
Topography, access (not too much, not too little), buffers, legitimate ground water availability and historical land usage (no, not cannabis historical usage) matter greatly in the CEQA process.
If you have the wrong mix, you’re in for a long haul.
My yes. I recently had the opportunity to puff on a 3 Full Flower Gov’t Pre-Roll.
Nothing to write home about.
This would not surprise me. Currently, the people with the most funding tend to have the least experience.
Unfortunately JB.. I beilive the CEQA process was implemented to not only target And bias against cannabis in general, I honestly believe it was also implemented to target the farmers in the triangle, honestly. They knew it would hit the small farmers the hardest. This isn’t thier first rodeo, they have been thru the rounds with the Wine and vineyards. They know that large Vinyards laugh at the CEQA process and violate it all the time. They knew exactly what they were doing when they implemented it.
And again seriously if they can give Santa Barbra Tonage, they could implement reasonable more affordable policies here. Straight.
Yeah, but did the small growers really think they had or have a chance at making a profit growing now that it’s legal? It was never going to last forever. Some need to come to grips with reality and their poor life choices to be hillbillies with no real skills in a modern tech world.
Legal ad nausium.
Ad nausium: Repetitious to the point of wanting to throw up.
Even if the small farmers might have a giant challenge to be able to make it, I still don’t think that the small farmers deserved to be ‘the sacrificial lambs of legalization’!
1 gallon of water = 1 almond
1 acre of almonds = 1 million gallons of water
~
Some awfully soggy thinking in these comments. To be clear, the State Water Boards have jurisdiction to regulate and monitor commercial grow sites under the Cannabis General Order. Other types of ag may have to enroll in the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program through their regional water board. Surprise, level farmland with ample water rarely presents a compliance challenge. Folks living off grid using a variety of water sources, many illegally, may have to adapt their cultivation sites and water usage patterns, or face the consequences. Plenty of bad habits to break, it seems.
~you do know who the hottest places in hell are reserved for, don’t you?
Yet there are HUGE vineyards and orange farms on very steep land through out the state. And some how, they are accepted approved and permited. The Water Boards overstep is extreme extortion at it finest…
Fuck their SIUR’S
So … a 500sqft medical grow which is STILL LEGAL (ignored by county on parcels over 5acre) and is allowed by the water board requires an SIUR, which is a muti page document and requires a site visit.
Fuck you.
No.
Exactly!
*So, in the end, it’s just more window dressing for tyranny. Right?
~the longer we wait, the bigger it gets. Nobody wants to start it. Nobody wants to go down as the one who lit the fuse. Ridin an interplanetary beast, ridin it to the ground.
‘Bend your knee to Caesar’ time is upon us. Either go down fighting or let them walk up and cut your throat. Your choice. Better have one in each hand. Honed-up -no jams.
Nah, some would rather let more gov’t come in and control everything in the name of bs climate change/socialism/whatever the loony left is going on about these days. And don’t forget to hand over your guns and be good little sheep.
Yeah, that would be a great idea.
permits, please respond on our Cannabis Complaince Response Portal. Really the process is pretty easy….”
They cannot even spell COMPLIANCE
~even more better, T.H.E.Y. can’t spell cannabis !!
CalCannibis
So yeah we’re dealing with incompetence on a grand scale. Incompetence play-acting their bit parts in the dense tone of commercial master slave mentality.
I’ve been growing medical cannabis for the last 6 years with constant flow recirculating fish water between my plants and the fish. The roots run through the aggregate tubs and one pump takes care of over 200 plants. Top water the media in 5 gal buckets (full root recovery) and you can give the flowering plants any trace minerals that are not in adequate supply from the fish water. This approach uses 95% less water than traditional soils crop cultivation techniques and demineralization of the water running through the rocks dramatically cuts down on any additional nutrient requirements. Couple this with the fact you can not put any pesticides, fungicides or aerocides that would harm the fish and you have less reason to interact with any of these environmental agencies that exist to shut you down with fines that break your financial back.
I really like your synergy, Darryl.
The way you’ve admitted to asking for permission to live and cultivate along-side your fish husbandry, is a story straight from the old ways.
We’ve not always been able to defy our nurturing duties as most can today. The new artificial stuff just doesn’t seem to regard respect for life the way it should.
I think you have more to say that youngins and OG might learn from.