Forest Service halts grant for cleaning up illegal Calif. cannabis operations
March 17, 2025
A door knocker made for the U.S. Forest Service is shown at Western Heritage on Jan. 24, 2019, in Loveland, Colorado. David Zalubowski/AP
The U.S. Forest Service has informed California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife that it will not be able to proceed with a nearly $1 million grant awarded by the state for the purpose of removing waste left by illegal cannabis cultivation sites on federal lands.
The grant was awarded to the USFS in 2022 and was expected to be a project in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management. But on March 5, CDFW confirmed to POLITICO, the Forest Service gave California notice it would no longer proceed with the project.
The move comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s layoffs at federal agencies — including USDA (which oversees the USFS) and the Department of the Interior (which oversees BLM) — and frozen federal grant projects. It also comes as Congress considers legislation that would increase federal funding to do cleanup of illicit cannabis grows on federal lands around the country. The bill had a hearing in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands last week.
The Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment.
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