The following is a description of the event hosted by the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center:
The new frontier of cannabis production represents a large, lucrative, and rapidly expanding industry in the Western US, and particularly in Mendocino County. But what consequences does this agricultural boom have on the environment? A research team from UC Berkeley’s Cannabis Research Center is starting experiments at Hopland Research and Extension Center and Angelo Coast Range Reserve to study the effect of light and noise from cannabis farms on surrounding wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals. This work builds off of multidisciplinary research on wildlife response to outdoor cannabis farms, interviews with farmers on their relationship with the land, and discussions with regulators from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This research aims to promote sustainable cannabis production that can support both human and animal communities.
Phoebe Parker-Shames is a PhD candidate at the University of California at Berkeley in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Department. She is taking an interdisciplinary approach to studying the ecological outcomes of cannabis legalization, and is broadly interested in wildlife in working landscapes.
This is a free event.
Please register here:
http://bit.ly/cannabisenvimpact
