MENDOCINO Co., 3/11/21 — To what extent cannabis cultivation operations affect the surrounding environment and wildlife has long been a topic of debate in Mendocino County, especially during regulatory discussions surrounding commercial cannabis permits. This Friday, a group of researchers from UC Berkeley will be holding a virtual presentation on their new field studies, taking place at the Hopland Research and Extension Center HREC) and Angelo Coast Range Reserve. The researchers will be studying “the effect of light and noise from cannabis farms on surrounding wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals.”
Here’s the announcement from HREC with a link to register and watch the event, which takes place Friday, March 12 at 11 a.m.:
The new frontier of cannabis production represents a large, lucrative, and rapidly expanding industry in the Western US, and particularly in Mendocino County. But what consequences does this agricultural boom have on the environment? A research team from UC Berkeley’s Cannabis Research Center is starting experiments at Hopland Research and Extension Center and Angelo Coast Range Reserve to study the effect of light and noise from cannabis farms on surrounding wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals. This work builds off of multidisciplinary research on wildlife response to outdoor cannabis farms, interviews with farmers on their relationship with the land, and discussions with regulators from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This research aims to promote sustainable cannabis production that can support both human and animal communities.
Phoebe Parker-Shames is a PhD candidate at the University of California at Berkeley in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Department. She is taking an interdisciplinary approach to studying the ecological outcomes of cannabis legalization, and is broadly interested in wildlife in working landscapes.
This is a free event.
Please register here:
http://bit.ly/cannabisenvimpact
Questions, accommodations needed? Please contact Hannah Bird 707-744-1424 x105