'Green Rush' In NorCal Towns Have Some Calling For Moratoriums On Marijuana Cultivation
ARNOLD, Calaveras County (KPIX 5) -- Change is happening fast in the Calaveras County foothills since the Butte Fire devastated communities in the area. There's a 'green rush' going on as farmers buy up land ahead of the potential legalization of recreational marijuana in California.
The casual observer might not notice what's going on.
WATCH PART 1: Recreational Marijuana Initiative Creates 'Green Rush' In Calaveras County Town
The mountains of planting soils and trucks outside the local hardware store are telltale signs of the growing culture, but not everyone is pleased.
"Long time ranchers have now had fences cut, and grows on their property and diversions of water from their property, and cows getting out," Water District Director Dennis Mills told KPIX 5.
A modern day land grab by would-be marijuana cultivators and speculators who have been moving in to the quiet community and gobbling up nearly every acre of available land - even land they don't own.
"I personally have been stopped by assault rifles on public roads. We have had that situation where a lady out in Diamond 20 was being shot at when she went to feed her horses," Mills said.
Mills said sanctioned, licensed growing of pot is one thing, but the green rush has attracted a ton of illegal pot growers. And, he believes that has dramatically changed his once safe community.
"It's now all changed, and people are behind locked gates, and they have angry dogs, and they have cameras and all of a sudden it's no longer a community," Mills said.
Mills and others are calling on the county to slow down the rush by putting in some regulation, or even a moratorium on marijuana cultivation. He's getting support from of all places, like the Calaveras Cannabis Alliance.
"They're coming in and chopping down trees, and grading terraces out, and just in general just kind of putting bad spin on all this," Jeremy Carlson of Little Trees Dispensary said.
Carlson, who operates the marijuana dispensary in Arnold agrees that some regulation is needed. How much and how to fund it is where people differ.
Estimates put the annual value of the county's marijuana crop at more than $100 million dollars, dwarfing timber, cattle and wine growing combined.
"This is basically Calaveras County's last big industry, so if it goes away, I think there's going to be a lot of negative affect that people don't realize that are coming," Carlson said.
"Who's legal? Who's illegal? And, how do you stop it? Once you stop it, who's going to pay the price to stop it in those areas where it's not legal?" Mills said.
Despite repeated calls for a moratorium or ban on any new cannabis cultivation in the county, the board of supervisors has so far failed to act on a proposed urgency ordinance.
Many feel they are instead awaiting the outcome of a statewide marijuana initiative headed California's November ballot.
