<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25452" dir="ltr"><a href="http://kalw.org/post/legal-or-not-cannabis-takes-toll-northern-california-watersheds#stream/0" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_26021" class="">http://kalw.org/post/legal-or-not-cannabis-takes-toll-northern-california-watersheds#stream/0</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_26111"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_26110"><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 3em; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: -0.015em; word-spacing: 0.4000000059604645px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_26109">Legal or not, cannabis takes a toll on Northern California watersheds </span><br></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.78125rem 0px 1.5625rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(61, 61, 61); font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.07999999821186066px; word-spacing: 0.4000000059604645px;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25993"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.25;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25994"><span property="dc:date dc:created" content="2017-12-18T17:06:03-08:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime" rel="sioc:has_creator" style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25995"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25996">By</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25997"><a href="http://kalw.org/people/angela-johnston" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(61, 61, 61); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25998">ANGELA JOHNSTON</a></span></span></span> <i style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-size: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0.5em;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25999">•</i> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-size: 0.75em; text-transform: uppercase; position: relative;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_26000">DEC 18, 2017</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-right: 0px; width: 663.328125px; float: none; color: rgb(61, 61, 61); font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.07999999821186066px; word-spacing: 0.4000000059604645px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25768"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25769"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25770"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none; font-family: inherit; clear: both;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25771"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.5; list-style-type: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25772"><figure style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25773"><a title="Bryan McFadin and Jacqueline monitor one of 33 different locations in the Trinity River watershed." href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/x_large/public/201712/IMG_1008-1.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 141, 217); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; outline-width: 0px; display: block; position: relative;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25774" title-off=""><img src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/medium/public/201712/IMG_1008-1.JPG" alt="Bryan McFadin and Jacqueline monitor one of 33 different locations in the Trinity River watershed." style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; min-height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 663.328125px; cursor: zoom-in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25775" data-id="2c672f2c-fabc-d920-a0d1-dc8099cbbfe7" class=""></a><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 0px; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2em; min-height: 1.4em;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25776"><figcaption style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25777"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.39063rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.9rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.25;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25778">Bryan McFadin and Jacqueline monitor one of 33 different locations in the Trinity River watershed.</div><div style="margin-top: 0.3em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.6rem; font-style: italic; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25779"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; color: rgb(145, 145, 145);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25780">ANGELA JOHNSTON</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; color: rgb(145, 145, 145);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25781"></span></div></figcaption></div></figure></li></ul></div></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-right: 0px; min-height: 250px; color: rgb(61, 61, 61); font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.07999999821186066px; word-spacing: 0.4000000059604645px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25782"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25783"><div property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25784"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; font-size: 15px; overflow: hidden; clear: left;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25785"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 8px; background-color: rgba(220, 210, 210, 0.0980392); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-width: 1px 1px 5px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0745098);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25786"><div jp-instance="-5a3d60491940a" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 0px; min-height: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25787"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; float: left; overflow: hidden; right: auto;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25788"><a href="https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kalw/audio/2017/12/WEB_WeedWater.mp3" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; line-height: 26px; background-image: url(http://kalw.org/sites/all/modules/custom/pi_hull/jplayer/images/playpause-sprite-r.png); background-size: 50%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2); min-height: 44px; width: 44px; border: 2px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); border-top-left-radius: 50%; border-top-right-radius: 50%; border-bottom-right-radius: 50%; border-bottom-left-radius: 50%; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s; white-space: nowrap; background-position: 0.7em 0.5em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25789"></a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3.3em; padding: 3px 0px 0px; line-height: 1; overflow: hidden;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25790"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; min-height: 15px; white-space: nowrap;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25791"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); font-size: 19px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; ; text-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961) 1px 1px 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease-in-out;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25792">Listen </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); font-size: 19px; left: 0px; opacity: 0; ; text-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961) 1px 1px 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease-in-out;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25793">Listening...</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: col-resize; float: left; min-height: 16px; transition: width 0.2s ease-in; width: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25794"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 8px 0px 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); float: left; font-size: 14px; transition: all 0.2s ease-in; white-space: nowrap;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25795"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; position: static;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25796">0:00</div></div></div></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25797">Ben Durkee is a true Trinity local. He’s lived and worked in the Northern California county his entire life. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25798">“I grew up on a little creek on Ransom Road in Weaverville," he says. "We always called the creek the ‘wrong creek’ because it was near a two-house little dirt road that was labeled ‘The Wrong Road.’"</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25799"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25800">Wrong creek isn’t quite right</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25801">He remembers swimming there, splashing around with his friends and watching his neighbors tend to their bountiful fruit and vegetable garden with water from the creek. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25802">But Durkee says, for the past decade, things on ‘wrong creek’ haven’t been quite right. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25803">“It's been a dry riverbed for over 10 years now, and it's probably never going to come back, which is just really sad,” Durkee says.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25804">Durkee works at a fishing lodge, which caters to visitors casting their lines in the Trinity River watershed. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25805">“If there's no water for people to fish, my job doesn't exist,” he says. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25806">Like many people up here, Durkee believes one group is responsible for the loss of his childhood creek: Marijuana farmers, who are “damming up local creeks that are used as the primary water source for residences, effectively stealing that water for their own gain.” </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25807">There are thousands of cannabis farms near creeks in Trinity County, and Durkee thinks they may be to blame. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25808"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25809">Forensic hydrology</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25810">Those creeks are where you’ll likely find water detective Bryan McFadin, up to his waist in freezing cold water, wading deep in what he dubs “forensic hydrology,” investigating Durkee’s concerns.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25811">McFadin works for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. A few years ago, locals approached him wanting to know why their creeks were drying up. To find out, McFadin and his team monitored the water flow at more than 30 locations up and down the Trinity watershed. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25812">“A lot of people feel like cannabis cultivation is taking an extreme amount of water, and I don't know that that's the case, but that's part of why we're doing this project, to shed light on that,” McFadin explains as he zips up his fly fishing waders and he shuffles down the riverbank toward the stream. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25813"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25814">The monitoring process</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25815">First, McFadin stretches a long tape measure across the width of the creek.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25816">Then, he sticks a long metal pole into the water. It’s called a flow tracker, and it has a computer at the top and an acoustic sensor at the bottom. </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.78125rem; padding: 0px; width: 663.328125px; float: none; clear: both; z-index: 1;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25817"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25818"><a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/x_large/public/201712/IMG_1007_0.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 141, 217); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25819"><img data-interchange-default="http://kalw.org/sites/kalw/files/styles/default/public/201712/IMG_1007_0.JPG" data-interchange-small="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/small/public/201712/IMG_1007_0.JPG" data-interchange-medium="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/medium/public/201712/IMG_1007_0.JPG" data-interchange-large="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1007_0.JPG" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1007_0.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; min-height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 663.328125px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25820" data-id="507d5934-ddfe-e97b-b9ed-ea89a95c7816"></a><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 3.3125px; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2rem; min-height: 1.4em; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25821"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.26042rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.8rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.25rem;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25822"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(145, 145, 145); font-size: 0.6rem; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25823">CREDIT ANGELA JOHNSTON</div></div></div></div><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25824"><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25825">McFadin inches it along the tape measurer, recording the water’s velocity and depth at different increments across the creek. Those measurements, plus a little math, tell him the exact flow of the water moving by.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25826">McFadin compares these numbers with the amount of water that historically flows through the creeks at the same time of year. Although his team hasn’t published their final report yet, it’s easy to tell where there are some big, big changes. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25827">Back in the car, McFadin shows me some graphs.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25828">“This red line is what we measured, the dotted line is what the equation predicts,” he says, “and so this deficit here tells us, ‘Hmm there is something going on here.”</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25829">In some spots this year, the flow levels plummeted. Someone, he says, emptied the creek, quickly.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25830">“We can say, ‘Oh God, yeah, there’s something going on there.’ Basically what we see is right around the end of July, somebody turned on a pump ... shut it off, turned it back on, and basically flatlined the stream. It was to the point where we couldn’t really measure it, it was so low, just a thin film of water on the top,” he says. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25831">In other places around the watershed, it’s worse. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25832"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25833">“It is everywhere”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25834">Post Creek is downstream from Trinity Pines, an extremely concentrated subdivision of cannabis farms packed on top of each other into the hillsides.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.78125rem; margin-left: 0.9375rem; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.9375rem; width: 331.65625px; float: right; clear: right; z-index: 1;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25835"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25836"><a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/x_large/public/201712/screen_shot_2017-12-18_at_1.34.56_pm_0.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 141, 217); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25837"><img data-interchange-default="http://kalw.org/sites/kalw/files/styles/default/public/201712/screen_shot_2017-12-18_at_1.34.56_pm_0.png" data-interchange-small="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/small/public/201712/screen_shot_2017-12-18_at_1.34.56_pm_0.png" data-interchange-medium="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/medium/public/201712/screen_shot_2017-12-18_at_1.34.56_pm_0.png" data-interchange-large="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/screen_shot_2017-12-18_at_1.34.56_pm_0.png" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/screen_shot_2017-12-18_at_1.34.56_pm_0.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; min-height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 316.65625px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25838" data-id="431f8084-f142-1f14-5151-229265a23acf"></a><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.578125px; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2rem; min-height: 1.4em; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25839"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.26042rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.8rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.25rem;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25840">Trinity Pines, as seen from Google Earth.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(145, 145, 145); font-size: 0.6rem; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25841"></div></div></div></div><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25842"><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25843">You can see it from Google Earth — hundreds of beige pockmarks dotting the green landscape. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25844">If you zoom in closer, you can see rows and rows of plants.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25845">“It is everywhere. You can see that they've, in some cases, built terraces into the hillside to make room for the plants,” McFadin points as we drive through the subdivision. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25846">What you can’t see from the car windows, you can smell.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25847">“I would estimate we've driven past a few thousand marijuana plants in just the last few minutes, and I would imagine it’s a lot more than 1,000 plants that are back there,” he says. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25848">Not everyone here takes water directly from the creek, but the past two summers, Post Creek dried up. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25849">“It gives you a sense of the scale of the issue.”</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25850"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25851">More than just numbers</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25852">The implications are also huge, and far-reaching. After a day of monitoring, McFadin and I sit on the bank of the Trinity River and watch a fly fisherman cast his line into the water. A Chinook salmon slowly swims by our feet.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0.9375rem; margin-bottom: 0.78125rem; padding: 0px 0.9375rem 0px 0px; float: left; width: 331.65625px; clear: left; z-index: 1;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25853"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25854"><a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/x_large/public/201712/IMG_1013_0.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 141, 217); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25855"><img data-interchange-default="http://kalw.org/sites/kalw/files/styles/default/public/201712/IMG_1013_0.JPG" data-interchange-small="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/small/public/201712/IMG_1013_0.JPG" data-interchange-medium="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/medium/public/201712/IMG_1013_0.JPG" data-interchange-large="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1013_0.JPG" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1013_0.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; min-height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 316.65625px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25856" data-id="569868f9-9977-ddd6-e6f1-9f744a010ec5"></a><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.578125px; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2rem; min-height: 1.4em; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25857"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.26042rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.8rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.25rem;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25858">A fly fisherman in Trinity River in Weaverville.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(145, 145, 145); font-size: 0.6rem; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25859">CREDIT ANGELA JOHNSTON</div></div></div></div><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25860"><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25861">“He and his kin are a big part of what we're trying to protect,” McFadin says. “At one time, there were really large runs of fish like this that fed a lot of families and provided a lot for the local economy, and that isn't the case anymore. We'd sure like to turn that around.”</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25862">Photographs, water rights records, and data from the water board’s cannabis-permitting program show it isn’t only marijuana farmers diverting water from these habitats.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25863">Traditional agriculture, and homes, use as much water in the Trinity region, McFadin says, but cannabis irrigation is just incredibly hard to monitor, and wasteful practices are difficult to correct.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25864">“We've seen some really egregious things too where people just build the roads in the stream,” he says, “things that we hadn't seen since the logging days of the ‘60s.” </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25865">McFadin hopes his team’s data will help right these wrongs. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25866">The water board’s already understaffed enforcement unit can use info about the most vulnerable streams to decide which water guzzlers they should patrol first. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25867">And, he hopes it’ll encourage growers to get with the programs. If you want to grow recreational cannabis legally next year, you’ll need to get permits with the waterboard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the county. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25868">And depending on what you’re growing for, you’ll probably need one or more state permit, too.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25869">“If they stay in the cannabis economy and they abide by the regulatory programs that are out there for cannabis, that are designed to protect the environment, then over time I think those things will get fixed,” McFadin says.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25870">But, so far, waterboard enrollment numbers are on the low side. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25871">Getting your marijuana farm up to code costs a lot of money — many farmers find it cheaper to stay under the radar, or just leave the business completely, and leave their mess behind, too. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25872">Since, if you buy marijuana in California, there’s a good chance it’s grown here, McFadin says it’s ultimately up to the consumer to ask where their marijuana comes from.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25873">“You should ask the question, and you should be interested if you're a cannabis user, because market opinions matter,” he says. “And if people don't want to buy marijuana that's grown with water that is impacting the environment, then I think marijuana cultivators will respond. If they're not able to sell it for as high a price as otherwise, that’s going to get their attention.”</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25874"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25875">Growing green</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25876">Down in Sonoma County, farmer Mike Benziger says that’s what his customers value. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25877">“They're asking the right questions. More and more my customers are younger people who really understand that the environment is in trouble and that their kids, and maybe their grandkids, are going to be paying for the bad actors in the past,” he says as he takes me on a tour.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25878">Benziger grows his 50 cannabis plants alongside persimmon trees, Swiss chard, eggplants, and other colorful fruit and veggies. </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.78125rem; margin-left: 0.9375rem; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.9375rem; width: 331.65625px; float: right; clear: right; z-index: 1;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25879"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25880"><a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/x_large/public/201712/IMG_1130.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 141, 217); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25881"><img data-interchange-default="http://kalw.org/sites/kalw/files/styles/default/public/201712/IMG_1130.JPG" data-interchange-small="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/small/public/201712/IMG_1130.JPG" data-interchange-medium="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/medium/public/201712/IMG_1130.JPG" data-interchange-large="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1130.JPG" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1130.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; min-height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 316.65625px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25882" data-id="42696d2f-f312-0aef-6128-f438539435bc"></a><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.578125px; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2rem; min-height: 1.4em; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25883"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.26042rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.8rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.25rem;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25884">Mike Benziger stands in front of his fruit and veggie plot.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(145, 145, 145); font-size: 0.6rem; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25885">CREDIT ANGELA JOHNSTON</div></div></div></div><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25886"><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25887">“It’s a little banana belt. The sun always shines here, the birds always tweet. It’s a little bit like la-la land,” Benziger says. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25888">His crops overlook the winery he used to own with his siblings. It’s where he started experimenting with biodynamic farming — a process that focuses on cultivating really healthy soil so farmers don’t have to use as many other resources. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25889">He likes to think of it as the most advanced form of organic farming.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25890">When Benziger was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, he and his wife wanted a change. So they left the winery and started growing produce and three types of medicinal cannabis.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25891">“We grow a sativa called ‘Tangie,’" he says, "a hybrid called ‘Girl Scout Cookies,’ and a hybrid called ‘Bubba Kush.’” </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25892">When I visit, Benziger’s harvested it all. He’s drying and trimming the buds in the barn behind his house. He stops to show me their empty beds.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25893"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25894">Watering on the plant’s schedule, not the farmers’</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25895">One of the things he’s most proud of is how little water he uses, thanks to soil-moisture probes that enable him to determine exactly how much water each plant needs. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25896">“We are not just watering by formula, and we are not just watering from the seat of our pants, but we are watering because we are measuring and we know what the plants need. We know where the roots are so we can hold the water back until the last second,” Benziger explains.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25897">Remember water detective Bryan McFadin? Research he’s done shows that many cannabis farmers water their plants with up to six gallons of water a day. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25898">With these moisture meters, Benziger cut that to under two gallons.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25899">“We can water only when the plant wants it, not when the farmer thinks it.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0.9375rem; margin-bottom: 0.78125rem; padding: 0px 0.9375rem 0px 0px; float: left; width: 331.65625px; clear: left; z-index: 1;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25900"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25901"><a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/x_large/public/201712/IMG_1131.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 141, 217); text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25902"><img data-interchange-default="http://kalw.org/sites/kalw/files/styles/default/public/201712/IMG_1131.JPG" data-interchange-small="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/small/public/201712/IMG_1131.JPG" data-interchange-medium="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/medium/public/201712/IMG_1131.JPG" data-interchange-large="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1131.JPG" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/styles/large/public/201712/IMG_1131.JPG" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; min-height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 316.65625px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25903" data-id="790e7cc5-faff-9688-edbf-35946ca7bd01"></a><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.578125px; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2rem; min-height: 1.4em; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25904"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.26042rem; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.8rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.25rem;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25905">Benziger shows off his biodynamic soil.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(145, 145, 145); font-size: 0.6rem; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25906">CREDIT ANGELA JOHNSTON</div></div></div></div><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25907"><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25908">Benziger also waters his cannabis, and all his other crops, with recycled water. He captures it from the roofs and stores it in giant green rain barrels. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25909">This technology makes it easy for him to comply with new environmental regulations. Benziger installed this system years ago, not anticipating that starting in 2018, most cannabis growers in Sonoma County will have to use recycled water. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25910">Indoor growers will have to use 100 percent renewable energy. Benziger’s got that covered too — a large plot of solar panels power his small indoor operation. While he says they are scalable at any size farm, he knows they’re not cheap. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25911"> </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25912">“Let me put it this way — the expense is usually in building the infrastructure up front,” he says.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25913">Now, they spend less on water, soil, and power. Benzinger says it cost him $50,000 to install his recycled water system — a high price for a small operation. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25914">He thinks this is the reason why few growers have signed up for permits: only 127. He says, there could be as many as 8,000 farms in Sonoma County.</div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25915">“So what's going to happen?” Benziger asks. “They're not going to go away, and it seems like some of these ordinances are so onerous that they're just driving the growers deeper into the woods, unfortunately.” </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25916">He thinks there should be more flexible regulations, and farmers with water-saving or composting systems should get tax breaks — rewards for growing with care. </div><div dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5625rem; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.125em; line-height: 1.75em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25917">That will help protect the watershed, and, he says, that’s what’s going to produce better marijuana, too.</div></div></div></div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25460"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_25464"><br></div></div></div></body></html>