Illegal Cannabis Grow Responsible for Water Being Diverted From the South Fork of the Eel River in Mendocino County, Says DFW

A black poly pipe diverting water directly from the South Fork Eel River.

A black poly pipe diverting water directly from the South Fork Eel River. [Photo from DFW]

Press release from DFW:

On Sept. 20, 2021, wildlife officers with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) served a search warrant in the 9000 block of Branscomb Road in Mendocino County. The search warrant was part of an investigation into suspected unlawful cannabis cultivation and associated environmental crimes.

Support was provided by a CDFW Environmental Scientist and the State Waterboards.

Prior to serving the search warrant, a records check was conducted on the property to determine what steps may have been taken to secure a state commercial cannabis license. In this case, no state license or county permit to cultivate commercial cannabis had been issued.

The property was located in the South Fork Eel River watershed, which supports several threatened and endangered species, including steelhead trout and Coho salmon as well as bird species such as the Marbled Murrelet and Northern Spotted Owl.

California is currently experiencing a historic drought. Unlawful cannabis cultivation operations of this nature can pollute the land and divert water from nearby waterways with historic low flows, which can greatly impact fish and aquatic species who may rely on cold cool water to spawn and survive.

Numerous environmental violations were documented, including two surface water diversions and a large trash pile near a waterway.

Over 590 illegal cannabis plants were eradicated and over 150 pounds of illegal processed cannabis was destroyed.

A formal complaint will be filed with the Mendocino County District Attorney’s office. No other information is available at this time.

A trash pile that wildlife have scavenged through.

A trash pile that wildlife have scavenged through. [Photo from DFW]

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Dirty
Guest
2 years ago

U can see jack hurst take water from the eel River there on hwy 36 with several water trucks about 4 or 5 per day hauling non potable water with to grows with no problem

Vato 369
Guest
Vato 369
2 years ago
Reply to  Dirty

Hahahaha it’s so true, they complain about these growers taking water but yet I bet if they investigated where all these water trucks hitting the lottery right now are gathering water from, they would understand why the eel is drying out.

Wootsie
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Vato 369

And the water trucks are going to grows.

Vato 369
Guest
Vato 369
2 years ago
Reply to  Dirty

The good ole boys lives heavy in humboldt. I’ve never seen anything like it in any other place I’ve lived. They are the suits of the city’s.

cutommorrow
Guest
cutommorrow
2 years ago
Reply to  Dirty

take a pic and send it to D A .

Just saying
Guest
Just saying
2 years ago
Reply to  cutommorrow

Exactly

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Dirty

Highway 36? That would actually be the Van Duzen River, wouldn’t it?

That river is hurting even worse than the Eel River.

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Actually it is the “Van Duzen” fork of the Eel River officially.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Dave Kirby

Not so fast, Dave Kirby, the Van Duzen is a ‘tributary’ to, not a ‘fork’ of, the Eel River.

According to Wikipedia:
Quote:
“In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks.”
End Quote.

So you see, Dave Kirby, it is actually not, “the Van Duzen “fork” of the Eel River”.

It is a river with an entirely different name.

It is the Van Duzen River, a ‘tributary’, to the Eel River.

Is the Trinity River, “the Trinity “fork”, of the Klamath River”?

I don’t think so.

It’s a tributary.

Jim Dogger
Guest
Jim Dogger
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

As a lover of cartography, I must concur with guest’s statement. Furthermore, I’ve never seen a map which refers to that watercourse as anything but the Van Duzen River.

David Heller
Guest
David Heller
2 years ago
Reply to  Jim Dogger

Politely beg to differ, sir…on the earliest maps, it was called a ‘fork’. In NARA’s record group 75 is a sketch of the NW part of California by Gibbs who accompanied the Reddick McKee treaty party north in 1851. Not sure what year Gibbs actually drew the map, but I would assume that it was done in 1852. He called it Vanduzen’s Fork. Similarly, in Record Group 23, there is a map of the West Coast that includes the 1868 Alaskan purchase, that uses ‘Van Dusan’s F.’ On another post 1868 map of Reservations and Military reservations in the West, it is spelled Vandeusen’s Fork. On a California state engineers state map from 1884 it is called the Van Dusen Fork of Eel River, but by 1886, the Forbes map of Humboldt county calls it Van Duzen River. I was fortunate enough to have someone share their NARA search with me.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  David Heller

David Heller, thank you for the wonderful information, and it is historically referenced only similarly to Kirby’s assertion, and as Jim Dogger stated, he has never seen it marked as other than the Van Duzen River.

It may not have been your intent to settle the question…

You have not weighed in on it’s “official” name, or if it is actually known ‘officially’ as, the ‘Van Duzen River’, the ‘Van Duzen fork of the Eel River’, (as Kirby has asserted), the ‘Van Dusen Fork of Eel River’, ‘Vandeusen’s Fork’,
‘Van Dusan’s F.’, ‘Van Duzens Fork’, or just plain old, ‘fork’.

If the earliest map reference was to take preference, the name would officially be “fork”.

If the most recent map reference was to take preference, it would be the ‘Van Duzen River’.

So, what would it “actually”, “officially”, “now”, be known as?

It’s not unreasonable of me to call the watercourse adjacent to highway 36 as the Van Duzen River.

My assertion was only that it was not the “eel River” if it was “on hwy 36”, and that it was the ‘Van Duzen River’.

I wonder what the Native American name for the Van Duzen River is?

Last edited 2 years ago
Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Not sure how accurate this is, but what I found for the Native American name for the Van Duzen River is ‘Gidughurralilh’.
If someone could confirm ,or correct that, feel free to.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

The Native American name for the Eel River is Wiya’t.

For the Van Duzen River it is
‘Gidughurralilh’.

🤔🧐 So, the ‘Gidughurralilh’ ‘fork’ of the ‘Wiya’t’.😁

Last edited 2 years ago
Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Just throwing this out there…fork, river or tributary. Perhaps the designation change is due to changing, or a more understanding of, science. Pluto for example: earliest references were that it was a god, then a planet, then a dog (my personal favorite) then/now a planetoid. If we are going by first, scientific, or even celestial cartography, it would still be a planet. Based on what I know, and more importantly, don’t know, I can imagine it being called an “anomaly” on star charts, coming from an era when we knew it was there but couldn’t yet see it.

Just my two bits, which is about what the earlier “two cents” is worth now. But then, I’m just a two bit philosopher with a two cent education.

Last edited 2 years ago
Ice
Guest
Ice
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Just like on old maps Hayfork creek was the “Hay Fork of the Trinity river”.

David Heller
Guest
David Heller
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

I was merely trying to add the historical record to the comment thread, though my writing sometimes comes across as ‘one-up-manship’–it’s not my intention. By 1886, it was called the Van Duzen River… Like many town’s names pre-1900, the names have changed. The 1886 Forbes, 1898 Lentell, 1911 Denny, and the 1921 Belcher map have it as the Van Duzen River. And for the record, the South Fork of the Eel River was first known as Kelsey’s fork of the Eel River, after the notorious Sam Kelsey who explored the region, and passed through with his extended family after leaving Clear Lake in 1850. Jerry Rhode had a fine article in the NCJ about the Kelsey family and their time in the Humboldt Bay area, and their brutality to Native Americans wherever they went.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  David Heller

I realized that you were just adding historical points of view, thank you. I do find all your information very interesting.

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
2 years ago
Reply to  Jim Dogger
Dirty
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

The water trucks are all going too legal grows of hurst

Bill
Guest
Bill
2 years ago

This is so pathetic, these punk growers who don’t give a shit about the environment and the impacts they are having in our communities. I am so done with this stuff, when are we going to rid ourselves of these scum?

So sad knowing that the Eel is in horrible condition right now and that this is just one example of many (100’s?) locations where water is being diverted illegally.

Lady Blue
Guest
Lady Blue
2 years ago
Reply to  Bill

This has gone on far too long! If action is not taken VERY SOON we will have passed this tipping point also! Without water there is no life. Ya can’t subside on eating cannabis! Our fish can’t live without water and we cannot eat money when all vegetables have been eradicated by drought caused by water diversion to grow cannabis! C’mon people, where are your brains? What about your children and grandchildren? Do you even ever take them into consideration? SMH! Pull your heads back into the daylight and THINK ABOUT THR FUTURE!!!

Entering a world of pain
Guest
Entering a world of pain
2 years ago
Reply to  Lady Blue

The drought was caused by lack of rain, 1000s of water diversions are exacerbating the problem, not causing it

Mee
Guest
Mee
2 years ago

Book em danno. Oh wait the harmless peace plant…… lets just send out a social worker to sit down and talk to them. They dont want to hurt anyone or do wrong they were never taught. Lets just gime the. Counsling and rehab and that will fix it insted of icky cops and jail.

As fir the water truck yea that shit needs to be looked at if they are taking water as well catching them doing it is the problem. Rumor is they are getting it from fire hydrants not rivers. Not good but better than a river. You need a pto pump to pull from a river.

adam
Guest
2 years ago

right, and at the same time they probably market their weed as ORGANIC. hahha

Legallettuce
Guest
Legallettuce
2 years ago

Interesting that my creek was seasonal until after the August fire. Now it’s flow which is very high is all year round. Why? Cause the trees are not sucking 200 gallons per tree per day. Before this year all I heard was shit talk about the creek drying up cause of growers. Wrong, it was all that illicit tree growing mother nature has done. Does she have to report to the water board?

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Legallettuce

Hmm… for me it was the exact opposite. I had water most of the year run through but it dried up when 3/4ths of the surrounding properties were logged off. Now it only flows during sudden heavy rains. All those redwoods harvesting fog are gone and the land dries out fast.

Willow Creeker
Guest
Willow Creeker
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

From these two comments, I’d say it depends where your paycheck comes from, for who you blame for the water disappearing.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

Maybe it plays a part. Especially for pot growers because that was certainly the reason for clearing out the redwoods here. But also varied types of woods play a big part. A coastal Redwood generally harvests a lot of fog, keeps the ground shaded, cooler and more moist compared to the oak grassland which hardly see fog and are exposed to drying sun. Then there are the intermediate Douglas fir areas that seem awfully dry.. not seeing fog so much and sucking up a lot of moisture. Take away the Redwoods and suddenly fog doesn’t matter that much. These different environments can occur within a few miles if the elevation changes. It’s not like cities, which seem so monolythic.

Legallettuce
Guest
Legallettuce
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Well, all I know is my “Yosemite Sam” gun toting hippie hating neighbors are eatin lots of crow!

Lady Blue
Guest
Lady Blue
2 years ago
Reply to  Willow Creeker

The larger trees require less water to sustain. It’s the smaller trees taking their place that are sucking up the streams as well as the agriculture being grown in quantities too big for what’s left of our poor creeks, stream and rivers to sustain!! Educate yourself people, please!!

Third World County
Guest
Third World County
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

My friends in Greece said the same thing, when they logged the mountains there was nothing to create the fog drip that kept the streams flowing during the dry spells and they dried up. People had no water. From what I remember from a study the redwoods can produce up to 34% of their water from fog drip. I see it on my property with puddles of water when there has been no rain for months. Moisture laden summer fog blows through the trees and creates a low pressure in the canopy similar to a dehumidifier. I think the case is the opposite further inland where there is less fog, the trees are just not sucking up any water because they are gone and the ground water makes its way into the stream. Logging has definetly caused a lot of damage to the environment but wells and legal water diversions are now a permanent annual problem for the rivers and agencies see money in passing out permits. I have never seen the middle stem of the Mattole so low.

Country Bumpkin
Guest
Country Bumpkin
2 years ago
Reply to  Legallettuce

Thanks for pointing that out. I noticed considerably more water in the upper mad river, above Ruth lake than I have seen in the 20 plus years I have been hunting out that way. I also noticed considerably less trees, like a lot… the august complex was absolutely devastating.

Legallettuce
Guest
Legallettuce
2 years ago

Agreed, please aim well myself and people I love is growing. Yea the August fire was devastating still tough dealing with the loss.

Reeds section
Guest
Reeds section
2 years ago

This is probably not a true “outlaw” grow, but rather an unpermitted one. These agencies smell money and they ignore the egregious Mad Max trespass grows in favor of the “ no permit issued “ farms that they can put a lien on. CDFW cares only for lucre. They don’t waste time trying to lock up environmental criminals unless there is money in it.

Country Bumpkin
Guest
Country Bumpkin
2 years ago

Coming down the hill from Hydesville on 36 the other day I could see 6 large sprinkler lines, 100’s of yards long, all running at once in the middle of the day. Saw large scale irrigation going on in the heat of the day all the way up past the arcata bottoms. People use water for many different things and to say that one thing is causing all of the problems to our environment is naive and usually heavily biased. Any green infrastructure plan our government is proposing should have actual infrastructure projects like increased water storage and desalination plants included.

Neverlayup
Guest
Neverlayup
2 years ago

Everyone should be going 2 Oklahoma! 2500 permit to grow as many plants as you want! If you produce AAA you can make it! But the humidity is insane!

Mendocino Mamma
Guest
Mendocino Mamma
2 years ago

Wait…am I missing something??? Article says 9000 block Branscomb road that is just before the old Harwood mill. Never mentions the 36 or Van Duzen etc. Last I drove Branscomb road it runs east west from 101 to just short of Wesport. Did they move it?
As far as water diverson…common tactic for the Branscomb road posses!!! Yo YO YO There’s water in them their hills its all just been DIVERTED!!!
Passed down practice. Back in the day way less grows. Far less impactful. Grows were smaller. Now price has plummeted to the bedrock. Gotta grow way more to hit bottom line. Folks sitting on last years with harvest just weeks away. If not already slagging around this years fresh dep. Just days ago xxlg grow boss with 1000 pounds dropped it for $50 a unit. The habit of just grow more is a big part of the problem with the market being flooded.

Farce
Guest
Farce
2 years ago

Many permitted Mega-Farms producing massive amounts of weed and dumping it into the black market. State agencies turn their faces the other way and ignore…..https://mjbizdaily.com/millions-of-pounds-of-legal-marijuana-diverted-to-illicit-market-california-lawsuit-alleges/

Mendocino Mamma
Guest
Mendocino Mamma
2 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Well yes…this activity has been going on throughout legalization. Not new news. No connections out of area.
Sitting on a 1000 pounds get the f rid of it. 50 dollars is better than throwing it away. 3 middle men latter its 1400 on the east coast. Or better yet tossed in the pre roll blend and rolled out for 7k + a pound at the local dispensary…no pun intended.Total scam, but ya gotta pay the man and feed the fam!

Legallettuce
Guest
Legallettuce
2 years ago
Reply to  Farce

lol, dispensary suing the state cause their weed sucks and it’s overpriced.

bearjoo
Guest
bearjoo
2 years ago

The “Legal” grows don’t need water.

jason
Guest
jason
2 years ago

There should be no mercy for people who make that much money and never make a dump run!

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago
Reply to  jason

Or, chain gang them and make them hoof out their garage bag by bag, THEN, throw the no mercy book ’em.

Last edited 2 years ago
Fbnative
Guest
2 years ago

Institute a reward to turn in known illegal grows, walk the creek beds, make some moola!

Fbnative
Guest
2 years ago

Require water delivery trucks to install meters, This would require them to account for the water they sell. Maybe a little income tax evasion?