A Marijuana Land Rush Is Underway in Northern California.
A Marijuana Land Rush Is Underway in Northern California
Cannabis capitalism is flexing its economic muscle in California's pot growing heartland, and not everybody is sure that's such a good thing.
By Phillip Smith / AlterNet
June 4, 2016
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http://www.alternet.org/drugs/marijuana-land-rush-northern-california
Big ranches are especially desirable properties, said real estate agent Jim Redd, who specializes in such sales in both counties. Those ranches, which can run to 5,000 acres or more, are attracting consortia of buyers, who seek to subdivide them into a dozen or more grow sites. The interest has driven prices up from $1,500 an acre to $4,000.
Humboldt is especially fertile country for pot growing. Not only is it by now home to multi-generational growing families, the county government was the first in the state to adopt a commercial marijuana cultivation ordinance. County officials have to a large degree embraced the local economic mainstay, but that doesn't mean everybody's happy with what's going on.
The Wildlands Conservancy, which through years of work has bought 150,000 acres of forest and coastal wildlands, creating 15 nature preserves, told the Chronicle it had recently lost out to pot growers in an effort to buy a 6,500-acre ranch on the Eel River.
"It’s extremely unfortunate," said David Myers, the group's executive director. The Conservancy was ready to sign a purchase agreement for $15 million when the growers offered $20 million and got the property.
The Conservancy is trying to make a deal on another property, but it only has a month to raise $2.3 to finalize it, and the pressure is on.
"We have to close this deal, or else it goes to pot growers. That’s the sad truth," Myers. "We’re trying to make a last run at some of these properties before they’re split up and sold off to pot growers. I see it as the last chance to preserve some of these great spaces."
"The scale of it is phenomenal," veteran Santa Rosa marijuana attorney Joe Rogoway told the industry newsletter. "It’s more dynamic climate than it ever has been. Cities and counties are working to permit these activities the quickest. Just for Santa Rosa, we’re seeing people who have always been here formalizing what they’re doing. By regulating what’s happening, then they can collect taxes."
"Sonoma County is set up to be the biggest player in producing the raw product in Northern California," said Tawny Logan, executive director of Sonoma County Growers Alliance.
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