California State Parks continues to make progress in mitigating the harmful effects of waste from illegal cannabis grows left behind on state parks land after collecting thousands of pounds of waste this spring.
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On Wednesday, State Parks shared that their spring operation to clean trash from four parks resulted in 6,000 pounds of waste being removed from illegal cannabis grow sites.
State Parks carried out these clean-up operations at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park (San Diego County), Henry W. Coe State Park (Santa Clara County), Malibu Creek State Park (Los Angeles County) and Topanga State Park (Los Angeles County).
Henry W. Coe State Park is the largest park in Northern California State Park, at 87,000 acres, and members with the Cannabis Watershed Protection Program (CWPP) pulled some 2,200 pounds of waste from the park.
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This is the largest amount of waste pulled from a park during this springtime clean-up. Waste was found in the area of Coyote Creek and Pajaro Watersheds, a very remote area of the park.
State Parks said the remote and rugged nature of these grow locations makes it difficult to remove the waste and requires the need of helicopters to lift out the waste.
Some of the waste includes toxic chemicals, like banned herbicides and pesticides, invasive species and the destruction of native plants and wildlife.
Since its inception in 2019, the CWPP has removed 29,000 pounds of waste from 84 grow sites.
Those clean-ups included the removal of 32,500 cannabis plants, 360 pounds of fertilizer, 200 hazardous waste items and over six miles of irrigation plumbing.
Even with the eradication of over 80 illegal grows, CWPP estimates there are more than 400 illegal grows on State Parks property
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