HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. - Fish and Wildlife will now take a more active role in protecting California waterways after the passing of Senate Bill 837.
Scott Bauer, a Senior Environmental Scientist with California Fish and Wildlife said, "It provides for additional resources for our own department, our watershed enforcement team, for the state water board and it helps us better regulate water use on marijuana cultivation sites."
Bauer estimates there were about 5,000 grows in 2014 in Humboldt County.
He believes that number is even higher now, and says that means more grows and more diversions from local streams and rivers.
"We receive complaints all the time about why is the Van Duzen so low, why is the South Fork Eel so low," said Bauer.
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