Cannabis Restoration Grant Program

Cleanup, Remediation, and Watershed Enhancement Funding Opportunity Awards (FY 24/25)

• Meyer Gulch Fish Passage Improvement ($926,887 to Trout Unlimited (TU)) - This project will replace a culvert that is a barrier to all life stages of anadromous fish. The project includes installing a bottomless arch culvert and minor channel realignment using a stream simulation approach.
• Mainstem Ten Mile River Habitat Enhancement (Phase 2) ($1,776,719 to The Nature Conservancy (TNC)) - This implementation project will result in large-scale instream and off-channel/floodplain habitat enhancement for coho salmon in the lower maintstem Ten Mile River. Five fish habitat enhancement features will be constructed per final project design plans. Cannabis grant funding will supplement funding awarded by WRGB (Phase 1) and NOAA (Implementation).
• Almquist Cannabis Restoration Project ($170,623 to Baduwa't Watershed Council) - This planning and implementation project will result in the recontouring, and restoration of oak woodland habitat previously impacted by grading and cultivation. The project will enhance native species habitat and improve habitat connectivity.
• Evaluation and Remediation of Illegal Hemp Cultivation ($4,786,100 to California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA))- This project will address environmental damage, including contamination and waste, from non-compliant hemp cultivation sites. The project will develop and implement a comprehensive program to identify, remediate, and monitor non-compliant hemp cultivation sites and facilitate compliance.
• Rancho Sequoia Road and Sediment Assessment ($555,069 to Eel River Watershed Improvement Group (ERWIG)- This planning project will result in a comprehensive assessment of road networks in the Eel River Watershed, including the Rancho Sequoia Road network. The project also includes capacity building and educational workshops on road maintenance best management practices for cannabis cultivators and other landowners. The project will result in 100% design plans, CEQA studies, and environmental permits for implementing road improvements that benefit steelhead, Coho salmon, and other aquatic species.
• A Comprehensive Analysis of Pest Diseases and Sustainable Management in Cannabis Sativa ($596,261 to Regents of the University of California – Davis)- This project will improve our scientific understanding of phytopathological and phytosanitary threats to the California cannabis industry. The project will assess some of the other negative externalities of cannabis cultivation.
• Ventana Cannabis Site Restoration ($667,531 to Ventana Wilderness Alliance (VWA))- This project will remove toxic pesticides, refuse, and all infrastructure from up to 10 public land cannabis cultivation sites within the Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest (Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas). The project will mitigate the potential for direct poisoning of CESA listed species and other wildlife, remove sources of contamination within headwater streams, and monitor reclamation effectiveness.
• Sediment Reduction on Cannabis Farms in Priority Northern Watersheds ($14,894,214 to Cannabis for Conservation (CfC))- This planning and implementation project will reduce sediment delivery to streams and restore degraded habitat across 41 priority watersheds that are part of the Eel, Mad, Trinity, and Mattole watersheds. The restoration project will develop engineer designs, complete CEQA and permitting, in addition to implementing a portion of projects. Projects include upgrading stream culverts to allow for improved streambed function and species migration, fish-bearing stream bed and bank restoration, decommissioning onstream ponds that impede flow and contribute to sediment, and revegetating soils with native plants. The project will result in the reduction of sediment delivery due to cannabis activities on private land and improve water quality, stream flows, as well as habitat for threatened, endangered, and candidate species.
• A Framework for Restoring California’s Watersheds: Training and Empowerment in Action ($5,383,622 to Integral Ecology Research Center (IERC)) – This reclamation and remediation project will result in a study and framework, as outlined in Assembly Bill 2643, and train workforce development teams in California to conduct comprehensive reclamation of cannabis impacted lands. The project will complete the reclamation of 18 public land cannabis cultivation sites.
• Town Creek Bioengineering and Education Project ($1,133,959 to Round Valley County Water District (RVCWD))- This restoration project is in the Town of Covelo. The project includes planting living willow and cottonwood in addition to local streambed aggregate. The project will result in arresting and remediating bank erosion while improving riparian conditions and aquatic habitat. The riparian planting and monitoring efforts will include student participation from Round Valley Elementary and Round Valley High School. The project will further tribal, agency, and community partnerships as they work together to identify additional watershed restoration opportunities. 
• Amplifying Reclamation Through Outreach and Education ($1,267,511 to Planning and Conservation League (PCL)) - This project will document cleanup and restoration of cannabis impacted lands through written content, videos, and photographs with an emphasis on local partnerships, non-profits, and Tribal reclamation crews.
• Denmark Creek Stream Restoration ($1,147,243 to Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (MCRCD))- This project will produce designs, permits, and CEQA studies for removing obstacles to fish passage, restoring riparian habitat, and reducing impacts to receiving waters, while promoting water conservation and water security. The project will also conduct outreach and education to promote watershed restoration and assist a small business owner in a designated Severely Economically Disadvantaged Area.
• Wildlife Restoration Through Rescue and Removal of Abandoned Animals in Northern California ($1,068,056 to Noah's Ark Animal Haven and Rescue (NAAHR))- This project will address the threat to wildlife from abandoned domestic animals associated with cannabis cultivation in northern California. Predation by cats and dogs is considered one of the primary threats to wild birds and mammals, driving extinction and threatening biodiversity. California counties and tribal lands have experienced increased rates of animal dumping and abandonment with the downturn of the cannabis economy.

Qualified Cultivator Funding Opportunity Awards (FY 24/25)

• Bush Family Farms Woodman Creek Regenerative Farm Planning Project ($884,587 to Social Equity Economic Solutions Inc. (SEEDS))- This planning project will provide planning, permitting, CEQA studies, and 100% design plans for a Class I bridge, stream restoration, and road improvement. The project will improve farm practices for ecological benefit and land stewardship by developing a sustainable cultivation management plan that addresses water conservation and water storage, salmonid and wildlife habitat enhancement, soil health, and energy conservation. The project will provide capacity building for a small emerging non-profit.
• Salmon Creek Cultivator Compliance ($510,787 to Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA))- This planning and implementation project will assist a qualified cultivator in the Salmon Creek watershed with restoration and permit compliance. The project will upgrade over a dozen stream crossings and enhance riparian habitat resulting in erosion control and water quality improvement. The project may serve as a model for other area cultivators by demonstrating cooperative partnerships that successfully implement restoration and monitoring goals.
• Torabian Spillway and Pond Improvement Planning Project ($85,896 to The Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC))- This planning project will result in engineer design plans to replace and upgrade a failing on-stream pond spillway that is contributing sediment to Kellogg Gulch. Completion of the project will assist a Trinity County cultivator meet the annual state cultivation license requirements. The project consists of updating the engineer plans, completing environmental compliance, and conducting invasive species monitoring and management.

Research and Innovation Funding Opportunity Awards (FY 24/25)

• Quantifying Dynamic Trends in Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat in Response to Cannabis Agriculture, Land Use Change, and Shifting Climates Across California ($1,466,593 to Conservation Science Partners, Inc.)- This project will result in comprehensive, temporally dynamic assessments of wildlife populations and community health across the state that can be readily updated as changes occur. The project will develop an automated data processing pipeline for acoustic data; examine how species occupancy and diversity have changed over the last four decades and explore how a range of future land use decisions will interact with projected climate changes to influence wildlife distributions in the state.
• California Sentinel Site Network: Long-Term Native Species Monitoring to Improve the Effectiveness of Assessing the Impacts of Climate and Land-Use Changes, Including Cannabis Cultivation ($1,992,109 to Regents of the University of California (UCNRS - UC Natural Reserve System))- This project will improve the effectiveness of assessing the impacts of climate and land-use changes, including cannabis cultivation, through establishment of a monitoring system. The project will use Cannabis Program protocols for remote sensing small to large terrestrial mammals, bats, birds, and reptiles.
• Operationalizing the California Environmental Flows Framework ($1,886,566 to Southern California Coastal Water Research Program (SCCWRP), Joint Powers Authority)- This predictive streamflow modeling project will inform sustainable cannabis water use practices and policies, improve the accuracy of existing decision support tools for environmental restoration and remediation, and evaluate progress toward environmental protection.
• Non-Lethal Monitoring Methods to Understand Pollinator Community Diversity and Rare Species in Cannabis and Harvested Forests ($1,055,709 to National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI)) - The project addresses the urgent need for non-lethal, innovative monitoring systems for rare and threatened pollinator populations. This project will develop sensor-based systems using computer vision and machine learning to enable accurate, automated, and species-level pollinator identification. The project will gather data on pollinator behavior, population dynamics, and habitat use. By tagging individual bumble bees with QR codes and using spatially explicit capture-recapture modeling, the project will assess how landscape composition influences pollinator behavior.
• Southern Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Rearing and Coastal Monitoring Project ($3,927,578 to Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (MBSTP))- This project will address impacts to coho salmon from cannabis cultivation and other ecological stressors and support ongoing partnerships with Tribes. The project serves as the sole source of Central Coast Coho south of San Francisco.
• Bioacoustic Monitoring and Analysis to Support Wildlife Conservation in California ($2,413,468 to Regents of the University of California (UC Berkeley))- This project will conduct acoustic monitoring co-developed with Tribes in Humboldt, Siskiyou, and Tulare Counties and assess patterns of wildlife occurrence, including responses of gray wolves and their prey, to cannabis agriculture and other land uses; provide acoustic monitoring for California Spotted Owl and other forest species in 29 counties (including the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and southern California); and develop new tools and visualizations to expand the use of the Wildlife Soundhub acoustic data platform. Collectively, these efforts will improve our scientific understanding of the impacts of cannabis cultivation on wildlife, provide actionable solutions to those impacts, and contribute to species and habitat conservation. The project will expand acoustic and other monitoring to areas currently impacted by cannabis agriculture and conduct new sampling in partnership with local communities and Tribes, thereby engaging underrepresented groups while collaborating with resource agencies and academic programs.
• Sustaining Cleanup, Restoration, and Remediation Within Traditionally Underserved Communities ($2,091,070 to Novellus Group)- This project will increase the scope and scale of cleanup, restoration, and remediation of cannabis impacted lands and communities by addressing social and institutional barriers within traditionally underserved communities. The project includes facilitating partnerships among impacted landowners and conservation entities through in-person and virtual outreach and research-based education on environmental impacts of cultivation. The project will develop and implement tools and resources to build capacity and sustain success among grantees. The research project also supports a small woman owned non-profit.

Qualified Cultivator Funding Opportunity Awards (2022)

• 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.

Public Land Cleanup and Remediation Solicitation Awards (2022)

• 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.

• Sun+Earth Capacity Building Grant ($395,643 to Sun + Earth Certified)
• Reed Mountain Road Sustainable Cultivation ($194,709 to North Coast Small Business Resource Center)
• Implementing Drought Resilience Strategies for Cannabis Farms in Humboldt County ($1,003,370 to Cannabis for Conservation)
• Provisional to Annual License Transition for Trinity County Cultivators ($1,495,192 to Cannabis for Conservation)
• Marshall Ranch Cannabis Trash Cleanup ($74,430 to the Eel River Watershed Improvement Group)
• Barker Creek Roads Sediment Treatment ($172,691 to The Watershed Research and Training Center)
• Reclaiming our California Wildernesses from the Damage of Illegal Cannabis Cultivation ($388,855 to Integral Ecology Research Center)
• Lost Coast Forestland Flow Enhancement and Habitat Restoration ($277,936 to Salmonid Restoration Federation)
• Wildlife Conscious Certification Pilot Program: Enhancing Habitats and Connectivity for Wildlife on Licensed Cannabis Farms ($127,167 to Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation)
• 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.)
• 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.)

The following entities are eligible to apply and receive CRGP funding:

• Public agencies within California (state agencies or departments, public universities and colleges, special districts, joint power authorities, counties, cities, or other political subdivisions of the state).
• Nonprofit Organizations qualified to do business in California, under Section 501(c), Title 26 of the United States Code.
• California Native American Tribes as defined in Public Resources Code Section 21073.

The eligibility requirements are detailed in the PSNs.

Proposals submitted under the Cleanup, Restoration, and Watershed Enhancement PSN or the Research and Innovation Grant PSN that directly benefit species listed as endangered or threatened per the California Endangered Species Act will receive higher scores.

Proposals should also provide co-benefits, which may include implementation of actions described in species recovery plans, California’s 30X30 conservation framework, the State Wildlife Action Plan, or similar plans, and/or promote a local equity program.

All grants require a monitoring and reporting plan as well as a long-term management plan as deliverables, if not included at the time of the grant application.

There are currently three ongoing cannabis grant funding opportunities:

• Cleanup, Remediation, and Watershed Enhancement Funding Opportunity
  Priorities: Cleanup and remediation of waste, contaminants, and infrastructure associated with illicit cannabis cultivation on public, private or tribal land, reduction of sediment delivery from road crossings, increased water conservation, and/or enhancement of wildlife communities impacted by cannabis activities.
• Research and Innovation Grant Funding Opportunity
  Priorities: Improve the collective understanding of how cannabis cultivation influences the environment; provide actionable solutions for cannabis cultivation impacts on the environment; address environmental factors to support sustainable cultivation; and/or contribute to the conservation of California’s fish, wildlife, and the habitats upon which they depend.

CRGP grants are funded through California's Environmental Restoration and Protection Account pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code section 34019(f)(2). Today, CRGP offers approximately $20 million for all cannabis grant funding opportunities.

Currently, there is no minimum or maximum grant award amount. All project costs must be consistent with the purposes of the grant program and explicitly outlined in the grant agreement and adhered to as defined.