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.

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)