Cannabis Restoration Grant Program

QUALIFIED CULTIVATOR FUNDING OPPORTUNITY AWARDS (Ongoing):

• Sun+Earth Capacity Building Grant ($395,643 to Sun + Earth Certified) - This planning and capacity building grant is to support sustainable cultivation practices for their cannabis cultivator network. The grant will also provide the framework necessary to help cultivators secure an annual license and support sustainability projects focusing on land restoration and conservation.
• South Fork Eel Sustainable Water Systems ($1,388,181 to The Mendocino County Resource Conservation District) - This project was awarded for water conservation projects in the South Fork Eel River Watershed. The funds will focus on three cannabis cultivation sites and will be used to design and install three rainwater collection systems, perform irrigation infrastructure upgrades, develop and implement an invasive species management plan, install native, pollinator-friendly plants and prepare site-specific California Environmental Quality Act documentation required for cannabis cultivators.
• Reed Mountain Road Sustainable Cultivation ($194,709 to North Coast Small Business Resource Center) - This planning project is to provide assistance to two qualified cultivators to continue the planning process for watercourse crossing upgrades, riparian restoration, and road drainage improvements of private and community utilized roads.
• Implementing Drought Resilience Strategies for Cannabis Farms in Humboldt County ($1,003,370 to Cannabis for Conservation) - The purpose of this project is to increase or establish water storage capacity on cannabis farms through the implementation or expansion of water storage tanks, rain catchment ponds, rain catchment gutter systems, and hardened irrigation systems.
• Provisional to Annual License Transition for Trinity County Cultivators ($1,495,192 to Cannabis for Conservation) - The purpose of this project is to provide services to execute the final compliance requirements for annual licenses for cultivation in Trinity County.

PUBLIC LAND CLEANUP AND REMEDIATION SOLICITATION AWARDS (2022):

• Headwaters to Confluence: Capacity Building and The Removal of All Illegal Public Land Cultivation Sites within Several CDFW Cannabis Priority Watersheds ($989,400 to the United States Forest Service) - The United States Forest Service (USFS) will partner with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the removal of non-hazardous and hazardous waste and active and passive water thefts and impoundments from watersheds located in Butte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Siskiyou, and Yuba counties. The project includes development of a training program to formalize reclamation protocols to meet USFS and BLM safety standards and expand the repository of qualified nonprofit groups throughout California to remove illicit cannabis sites from public lands.
• South Fork of the Trinity River Watershed Cannabis Reclamation on Public Lands ($550,004 to the Watershed Research and Training Center) - The Watershed Research and Training Center will remove over 500 cubic yards of waste associated with illegal cannabis cultivation within the South Fork Trinity River watershed near Hayfork, California in Trinity County.

WATERSHED ENHANCEMENT SOLICITATION AWARDS (2022):

• Marshall Ranch Cannabis Trash Cleanup ($74,430 to the Eel River Watershed Improvement Group) - The Eel River Watershed Improvement Group (ERWIG) will remove non-hazardous and hazardous waste associated with three illegal grow sites from the 2,942-acre Marshall Ranch located within the Sproul Creek and Redwood Creek watersheds in Humboldt County. ERWIG will train the California Conservation Corps in waste collection and disposal. Non-consumer grade hazardous waste will be geolocated for future removal or containment.
• Redwood Creek Watershed Enhancement ($497,797 to the Salmonid Restoration Federation) - The Salmonid Restoration Federation will design and implement multiple forest thinning pilot projects on permitted cannabis cultivation sites within the Redwood Creek watershed in Humboldt County. The goal of the projects is to reduce evapotranspiration and enhance dry season stream flows.
• Holland Reservoir Planning and Assessment ($999,264 to the Salmonid Restoration Federation) - The Salmonid Restoration Federation will assess the Holland Reservoir and water supply distribution system to support flow enhancement opportunities in the Cahto Creek watershed. The project will include a bathymetric survey, water level gauging, biological assessments, water delivery system investigations, identification of water use by co-owners, and enhanced dialogue among the existing water right co-owners and their successors.

WATERSHED REMEDIATION AND ENHANCEMENT SOLICITATION AWARDS (2021):

• Barker Creek Roads Sediment Treatment ($172,691 to The Watershed Research and Training Center) - The proposed project is to develop plans, baseline data collection, project designs, permitting and environmental compliance for road treatments to reduce sediment impacts to anadromous fisheries in Barker Creek Watershed in Trinity County.
• Reclaiming our California Wildernesses from the Damage of Illegal Cannabis Cultivation ($388,855 to Integral Ecology Research Center) - The project activities include the direct removal of refuse, hazardous chemicals, environmental contaminants, and the dismantling of infrastructure from illicit public land cannabis cultivation complexes within Monterey and Trinity County. As a complementary component, the project will identify interested organizations and develop their capacity to implement IERC-developed reclamation and safety protocols.
• Lost Coast Forestland Flow Enhancement and Habitat Restoration ($277,936 to Salmonid Restoration Federation) - This project will result in 100% design plans and fully executed environmental permits for ~7 million gallons of off-stream water storage and associated piping infrastructure to capture wet season runoff and augment dry season flows on the recently acquired Lost Coast Forestland property (938-acre property) located near the headwaters of Upper Redwood Creek in the South Fork Eel River in Humboldt County.
• Wildlife Conscious Certification Pilot Program: Enhancing Habitats and Connectivity for Wildlife on Licensed Cannabis Farms ($127,167 to Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation) - The Wildlife Conscious Certification pilot program has four demonstration farms participating in this initial stage and is designed to improve wildlife conservation on cannabis farms using scientifically-based management practices. CDFW has participated in the development of the program as subject matter experts and may continue to advise Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation in this limited technical capacity.

• Bull Creek Cannabis Recovery Project ($94,510 to Eel River Watershed Improvement Group);
• SF Usal Creek Headwaters – Trash and Toxin Cleanup ($83,840 to Eel River Watershed Improvement Group);
• Whitethorn Grove Clean Up ($64,831 to Sanctuary Forest, Inc.); and
• Reclaiming our Public Lands and Watersheds from the Environmental Threats of Trespass Cannabis Cultivation ($1,068,415 to Integral Ecology Research Center).
• Potter Valley Project Feasibility Study ($1,095,815 to California Trout, Inc.)