They need to be burned, and the plants....

Illegal cannabis farm found surrounding protected California trees

By Lester Black

California’s world-famous Joshua trees face a long list of threats, from climate change to human development in the vast deserts east of Los Angeles. Scientists have predicted that, without help, this iconic tree of the American Southwest may become extinct by the end of the century. Recently, state officials found a new risk to this protected tree: illegal cannabis farming. 

In August, an eradication team with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife raided an illegal marijuana farm, where it found pot plants growing around the shaggy bark of Joshua trees in rural San Bernardino County, as well as illegally diverted water and a banned pesticide. 

Sarah Sol, a Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, said the cannabis growers were harming the trees by siphoning off their necessary water supply, clearing native shrubs and using harmful banned pesticides like methamidophos. That pesticide has been linked to killing wildlife around cannabis farms, according to the Department of Justice.

“Western Joshua trees are ecologically and culturally important in California, and we are really working to conserve them,” Sol said in an email to SFGATE. “Joshua trees are sensitive, and they’re being affected by a lot of things already, such as climate change, larger and more intense wildfires, invasive plants and droughts.”

Joshua trees are the largest plants in the yucca genus, which includes many desert-dwelling plants like the Mojave yucca. Joshua trees are not yet officially endangered, but they are protected by a 2023 state law that limits how they can be destroyed and forbids anyone from taking the plants without prior authorization from Fish and Wildlife.

Illicit cannabis farms still dot California’s millions of acres of wild lands, even after California voters legalized cannabis in 2016. The illegal cannabis grow near the Joshua trees was found during a multi-agency project that raided six illegal sites in July and August, which resulted in the eradication of 21,000 plants and the removal of more than 2,300 pounds of trash. The majority of the sites were connected to organized crime, according to Fish and Wildlife.