California cannabis taxes fund Coho salmon recovery in Santa Cruz County.
Money raised from California’s cannabis industry is being channelled into saving endangered Coho salmon in Santa Cruz County.
The state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has awarded more than $3.9 million from its Cannabis Restoration Grant Program to the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (MBSTP), supporting operations at the Kingfisher Flat Conservation Hatchery.
The programme, funded by cannabis tax revenues and penalties from unlicensed cultivation, was created to repair environmental damage linked to the industry. This is the first time it has supported Coho salmon conservation south of San Francisco Bay.
“This funding will ensure continuity to a vital conservation effort, helping to prevent their extinction south of San Francisco Bay,” said Ben J. Harris, executive director of MBSTP.
Amelia Wright, director of CDFW’s Cannabis Program, said: “We know the preservation of Coho salmon in this watershed and their recovery is a shared goal in our cannabis community.”
The Kingfisher Flat hatchery, which began operations in 2002, raises and releases up to 32,000 juvenile Coho each year into San Mateo and Santa Cruz county streams. The grant will also fund repairs to infrastructure damaged in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire.
Erin Chappell, CDFW’s Bay-Delta Regional Manager, said: “The Coho recovery program at Kingfisher Flat Hatchery has been critical to the conservation of Coho salmon in the region. Without it, the genetic diversity and persistence of Coho in these watersheds would have been lost.”
CDFW’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program distributes about $20 million annually to ecosystem projects across California.
