Coexisting with cannabis: wildlife response to marijuana cultivation in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion

Abstract

The recent expansion of cannabis agriculture in rural areas of the western United States provides an ideal opportunity to study the outcomes of policy change for land use and wildlife. Small scale (<1 acre), private-land cannabis cultivation has the ability to coexist with or alter surrounding wildlife communities. To date, there has been little to no formal research on wildlife response to this form of cannabis cultivation. This study examines local wildlife community dynamics on and nearby active private-land cannabis farms. Using camera data collected between 2018–2019, we summarized the frequency of occurrence of 11 wildlife species and 3 domestic animals on and adjacent to (within 500 m) eight cannabis farms within the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion in southern Oregon. We also assessed how cannabis production influenced the occupancy (defined here as space use) of black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), lagomorphs, and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in our study area. We found that cannabis farms were generally occupied by smaller-bodied wildlife species, and had a higher proportion of domestic dog (Canis familiaris), cat (Felis catus), and human activity compared to nearby comparison sites. The presence of a cannabis farm helped explain detection probabilities of deer and gray fox, but did not affect lagomorphs. Farms also helped predict gray fox occupancy, but were not selected in lagomorph or deer models. These results suggest species-specific responses to cannabis cultivation, and highlight the need for further research on site-level production practices and their influence on surrounding ecological communities.

Keywords

• agricultural frontier
• anthropogenic disturbance
• camera traps
• cannabis cultivation
• occupancy and detection
• rural development
• terrestrial mammals