California officials are now accepting concept proposals for a program aimed at helping small marijuana cultivators with environmental clean-up and restoration efforts\u2014and they will be holding a workshop this week to guide people through the application process.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0California Department of Fish and Wildlife\u2019s (CDFW) Cannabis Restoration Grant Program was first announced earlier this year<\/a>, and applications opened last week.<\/p>\n The $6 million in potential funding\u2014which comes from marijuana tax revenue that the state has generated from legalization\u2014must go to government agencies, California nonprofits or Native American tribes who would then work with the growers on the remediation efforts.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s online workshop<\/a> \u201cis designed to review the priorities of this new funding opportunity and help entities of all sizes with the submission process,\u201d the department said in a notice.<\/p>\n Funds \u201cmay be used to fund the cleanup, remediation, and restoration of environmental damage in watersheds affected by cannabis cultivation and related activities, and to support local partnerships for this purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia\u2019s fish and wildlife are severely impacted by illicit cannabis cultivation practices including unlawful water diversions for irrigation, conversion of lands, poaching, and use of prohibited herbicides, rodenticides, and other environmental contaminants,\u201d the department said<\/a>. \u201cCurrently, the Cannabis Restoration Grant Program has the opportunity to grant funds in support of partnerships to clean-up, remediate, and restore watersheds affected by cannabis cultivation, and related activities.\u201d<\/p>\n The department said grant \u201cpriority will be given to qualified cultivators with ownership and\/or financial interest in no more than 10,000 square feet of total canopy,\u201d but those involved with larger operations may still qualify.<\/p>\n Applications<\/a> will be open through December 1, 2022.<\/p>\n Ensuring that cannabis cultivators have the resources to stay in compliance with environmental policies has been a priority for state regulators. And at the federal level, the issue of illicit operators disrupting the environment has also received attention.<\/p>\n An influential House committee said in a report in July that it supports federal law enforcement efforts to deploy drones in California to\u00a0find illicit marijuana grow sites on public lands<\/a>. However, it said that support is contingent on resolving issues related to cybersecurity and domestic production.<\/p>\n A related issue that wasn\u2019t addressed in the report was previously identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whose inspector general said in 2018 that the Forest Service has\u00a0often failed to clean up illicit grow sites<\/a>\u00a0after they finished chopping down plants.<\/p>\n Back in California, officials are also making millions of dollars available for grants programs to support marijuana social equity initiatives<\/a> and assist localities in processing pending cannabis business license applications.<\/p>\n The grant offerings\u00a0represent a continuation of California\u2019s efforts to support the success of the state\u2019s recreational cannabis system\u2014as well as its commitment to using marijuana tax dollars to invest in communities most harmed under prohibition.<\/p>\n In June, GO-Biz said it was awarding about $29 million in grants to 58 nonprofit organizations,\u00a0with the intent of righting the wrongs of the war on drugs<\/a>. The funding is being provided through the California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) program.<\/p>\n Grants are being awarded to qualifying nonprofits to support programs aimed at providing job placement, mental health treatment, substance misuse treatment and legal services for disproportionately impacted communities. The\u00a0program was first announced in April 2020<\/a>, and applications for those grants\u00a0were initially opened in September 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bank Of America Cancels Account Of Marijuana And Psychedelics Research Institute Registered With DEA<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Applications Are Open For Marijuana-Funded California Cultivator Environmental Clean-Up Grants, State Announces<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
California officials are now accepting concept proposals for a program aimed at helping small marijuana cultivators with environmental clean-up and restoration efforts\u2014and they will be holding a workshop this week to guide people through the application process. The\u00a0California Department of Fish and Wildlife\u2019s (CDFW) Cannabis Restoration Grant Program was firstContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50595,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50594\/revisions\/50595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Applications Are Open For Marijuana-Funded California Cultivator Environmental Clean-Up Grants, State Announces<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"