Open Grants

Grants that are open for farmer participation or that are still in development will be posted here, with a description of the program, farm requirements (e.g., square footage, cultivation type, habitat type, etc.), a sign-up worksheet, and status updates.

Calling all Bee and Pollinator Enthusiasts! 🐝🦋🌸🪻

Non-lethal monitoring methods to understand pollinator community diversity and rare species in cannabis and managed forests

The project emphasizes the conservation of rare and threatened native pollinators, including Bombus occidentalis and others classified as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) under the California State Wildlife Action Plan. While effective, traditional monitoring methods like blue vane traps and netting pose risks to small or declining populations, potentially causing unintentional harm. This project addresses this challenge by developing non-lethal monitoring tools to track bee demographics, habitat use, and community composition. The project pioneers sensor-based, non-lethal pollinator monitoring technologies, incorporating computer vision and machine learning to identify pollinators in real-time. These tools will reduce reliance on lethal sampling, ensuring that rare and protected species are monitored safely. We will design these sensors to efficiently store images, capture photos both day and night, and be durable enough to withstand interactions with bears, enabling long-term deployment across California's diverse landscapes. By integrating technological advancements with ecological research, the project will establish a new standard for non-invasive pollinator monitoring, informing conservation policies and ensuring sustainable management of native pollinators essential to biodiversity and agriculture. The project will empower community members and landowners, including cannabis cultivators and timber producers, to actively participate in pollinator conservation through non-lethal monitoring. Our sensor-based monitoring methods are designed to be user-friendly and accessible, allowing individuals without specialized ecological training or access to taxonomists to collect data on pollinator populations. We will create open-source assembly instructions, including a story map protocol for anyone to build and use the sensors.

We are looking for farms in the Willow Creek area to participate in the research, and need to identify three farms by April. Each farm will be equipped with special sensors that lure bees.

Here's some farm attributes we're looking for:

• Farms that are in conifer-dominant or mixed-hardwood conifer forest

• Farms that have both forested areas and forest clearings (OK if the clearing is cultivation area)

Here's what to expect as a participant:

• One team (crew of 4) will visit the farm 1-2x per week during mid-April through end of June to work on sensors and catch and tag bees

• Each visit will be about 4-5 hours

• Sensors will be deployed throughout the farm (they are small-- approximately 1 ft x 1 ft) in areas not in the way of cultivation activities

• You are welcome to join surveys to learn about pollinators and learn more about the work!

• We will secure 3 farms to work from this year (2025), and 10 to work from in 2026 and 2027.

Some important information to know:

1. Finding rare bees on your property will in NO way impact cultivation licenses.

2. Nothing is contractual year to year-- if you sign up for this year and decide it didn't work for you, you are not obligated to have us out consecutive years. Participation is completely voluntary.

If you're passionate about conserving local pollinators and want to be part of this exciting research, feel free to reach out to:

1. Jackee, Executive Director, at jackee@cannabisforconservation.org

2. Janelle, Grants Manager, at janelle@cannabisforconservation.org

(Last updated 03/12/2024)

cdfw cannabis restoration Grant PRogram (CRGP)—Cleanup, remediation, and watershed enhancement funding opportunity, 2024-2025

Sediment Reduction on Cannabis Farms in Northern Priority Watersheds

The Sediment Reduction Program aims to reduce sediment across 105 cannabis sites within 41 priority watersheds in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, and Nevada counties over three years. In the planning phase, the project will ensure all licensing compliance, create fully engineered design plans for all LSAA work, identify additional on-site sediment sources, develop native plant restoration plans, solicit bids, and select qualified contractors. During the implementation phase, 557 independent restoration projects will be completed, including upgrades to stream crossings and bed/bank/channel restorations, while maintaining ongoing licensing compliance. This highly coordinated and collaborative effort will build strong working relationships among cultivators, environmental groups, regulatory agencies, and compliance specialists, fostering regional conservation partnerships between previously polarized stakeholders and delivering measurable conservation benefits to sensitive habitats.

Farm Requirements: incomplete LSA work, culvert upgrades or replacements, stream restoration, road work, and/or erosion controls

Program Status: Application submitted, awaiting feedback; no longer accepting new cultivators

(Last updated 09/10/2024)

CDFW cannabis restoration grant program

Drought resilience - round 2

The Drought Resilience 1.0 Program directly addressed the environmental priority of sustainable water consumption on 17 farms through installing rainwater catchment systems, increasing water storage capacity, and/or hardening and improving irrigation, which effectively improves on-farm drought resilience, and reduces direct impacts to water sources during low-flow periods. Our Drought Resilience 2.0 Program will forward improvements and continue to address the environmental urgency of sustainable water consumption. 

If you are interested in applying as a second round applicant, please complete the following:

1. Complete the CFC Farmer Water Storage Worksheet (see button below) with all of your information.

2. Send completed worksheet to Vanessa, Program Coordinator, at vanessa@cannabisforconservation.org.

Farm Requirements: None

Program Status: Still in developmental stages; acquiring interested farms and assessing priority conservation areas

(Last updated 09/10/2024)

Wildfire Resilience on Northern California Cannabis Farms

This Wildfire Resilience on Northern California Cannabis Farms Program, funded by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Wildfire Resilience Forest Stewardship Grant, seeks to address the increasing threat of wildfire on cannabis farms with forest landholdings in Humboldt and Trinity Counties. Properties included in this project will consist largely of areas where historic logging resulted in what is now second-growth Douglas fir forest with high densities of trees and understory vegetation, making these farms and the surrounding forests susceptible to high-intensity wildfire. This project will build the capacity of small cannabis farmers to manage their forested lands for wildfire resilience by providing technical expertise in developing site-specific forest management plans that will include forest thinning, fuels reduction, understory vegetation management, prescribed fire, removal of encroaching vegetation in grasslands and oak woodlands, and biomass utilization. Note that this grant funds the development of fuels management plans. Once these management plans are obtained, we will use them to apply for additional grants to carry out the fuels management actions. This project will also involve an educational component, achieved through one-on-one participation with landowners and forestry/fire professionals in the assessment of their properties as well as educating landowners on forest management opportunities through CalFire’s California Forest Improvement Program (CFIP). The most suitable properties for this project are adjacent to footprints of recent major wildfires and are in areas that are at high risk for future wildfires.

If you are interested in applying as an applicant, please complete the following:

1. Complete the CFC Wildfire Resilience on Northern California Cannabis Farms (see button below).

2. Send completed worksheet to Janelle, Grants Manager, at janelle@cannabisforconservation.org

Farm Requirements: High fire-risk areas with dense stands of Douglas-fir; minimum of 20-acre parcels, preferably farms on 50+ acre parcels

Program Status: Grant secured; currently undergoing selection process

(Last updated 09/10/2024)