Sumner Continued from Page 4
because it’ll show up in the crops.” Now, is that one of the big issues for agriculture in California? No, for the same reasons (stated before). A lot of the places where there is illegal canna-
under those licenses. We don’t have histor- ical data on cannabis. It’s just recently that we’ve been collecting that data for canna- bis. There is a challenge in just knowing how much cannabis gets produced and marketed through the marketing chain. To be clear, we have detailed data on licenses, and licenses set the maximum square-feet area, not production. But many licenses are not used and often a grower will decide not to produce the maximum area allowed because it would not be profitable. We also have a “track and trace” requirement, where every plant and every gram is entered into the system, but those data are self entered and riddled with errors and complications. I do think for policymaking and regulat- ing and knowing things like environmental footprints, having some real data would help, and we just don’t. Two species to get full protection as CESA candidates The California Fish and Game Com- mission voted unanimously this month to designate the Mount Pinos sooty grouse and veiny monardella as candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act, or CESA. Both species will receive full CESA pro- tections while the California Department of Fish and Wildlife conducts a 12-month review to determine whether listing them as threatened or endangered is warranted. The Mount Pinos sooty grouse is found in mountainous conifer forests across portions of Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Kern and Ventura counties. Its habitat generally in- cludes mature pine-fir forests at elevations between 6,000 and 10,000 feet. The Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch submitted the pe- tition to list the species, identifying hab- itat degradation associated with timber harvesting, fire suppression and livestock grazing practices as primary threats to the Mount Pinos sooty grouse. A separate federal petition for the grouse was filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2024. Farmers and ranchers operating within potential habitat areas are encouraged to contact their local CDFW regional office for guidance on applicable protections and agricultural activities. Veiny monardella is a rare annual plant in the mint family. It occurs in grasslands and oak woodlands with clay-rich soils in Butte, Sutter, Tuolumne and Yuba coun- ties. Only two existing populations are currently known, both on private property. Landowners who encounter the plant should avoid disturbing it, document their observations and contact their local CDFW regional office to determine whether pre- cautions or authorizations may be neces- sary for nearby agricultural activities. Candidate status provides both species with legal protections during the review period, potentially affecting agricultural and land management activities in areas where they occur.
somebody who may be an illegal grow- er—then it’s really annoying and you want to get it stopped. How much do we know about the scale of these environmental impacts? We mostly don’t know. There is no definitive data on illegal, or unlicensed, cannabis production in Cali- fornia. We have rough estimates that illegal pounds produced are likely much higher than licensed production in California, but I have not seen a source of reliable es- timates. Much of the unlicensed cannabis is shipped out of California to the rest of the U.S. Even for local licensed growers, there’s no data collected systematically on prac- tices, for example. We know the licenses, but we really don’t know the production
share of the land, water or chemical use in California agriculture. There are particular concerns related to these operations diverting water. What do you know about that? What we know is that it tends to be local and really annoying, and it’s not just the diversion. It’s also the pollution. If somebody’s using an illegal pesticide, they divert a bunch of water out of a little stream that comes to you. Not only have they diverted most of the water, but the water that’s left is polluted with a pesticide. You simply can’t use that because you don’t want to have that pesticide residue on your crop, whether you think it’s really harmful as a grower or you say, “There’s a law against it. I won’t be able to market my crop if I use this
bis, it’s grown out- doors, and they aren’t in places where there’s big commercial crops. People aren’t growing a bunch of outdoor can- nabis in the mid- dle of the Salinas Valley and spray-
Dan Sumner
ing a bunch of illegal pesticides that are spilling over the celery and lettuce and broccoli. But if you’re a grower in Shasta County and you’re using stream water on your alfalfa crop and somebody’s diverted the stream—and particularly
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October 21, 2026 Ag Alert 5
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