Illegal cannabis farming takes a toll on public lands. Pacific fishers, bobcats, northern spotted owls and San Joaquin kit foxes are all listed as threatened or endangered animals under the Endangered Species Act. But there may be a surprisingly simple fix to their status: Legalize cannabis. Up to 70 percent of the black-market cannabis in California is cultivated on illegal sites, called trespass grows, that are located in national parks and other public lands, according to the Cannabis Removal on Public Lands (CROP) Project, a nonprofit coalition of conservation organizations and government groups. To establish these illicit pot farms, growers raze a section of forest, siphon water from streams for irrigation and use mass quantities of pesticides, turning once pristine wildlife habitats into dead zones. |