CANNABIS IN THE COUNTY
An interview with Round Valley resident Kat Willits
Kat Willits is programs manager for Round Valley Indian Tribes, secretary of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Tribal Council and a representative from the Council to the Round Valley Area Municipal Advisory Council. The following interview expresses her personal opinions.
Kat Willits, Littlelake Pomo and Wailacki Concow, was born in Ukiah, lived in Napa
and moved back to Covelo in 2016, the place where her father was from, where she spent many weekends, the place she calls home.
She is most concerned about water, a resource she considers to be non-renewable.
“Our water from the Eel River is being drained quickly and efficiently; there are arsenic levels at the lower end of the valley that weren’t there before. When the water table gets low enough and the water doesn‘t get diluted, arsenic starts showing
up.”
Creeks, streams, the Eel River itself, are drier every year and she attributes the attrition to the ever-expanding pot gardens in Covelo.
“You can’t count the number of water trucks constantly tapping water out of the valley aquifer every day; the more gardens that go in, the more water goes out and, when it does leave, it contains herbicides and pesticides that go back into the ground as a toxic substance. There is no way that nature can
survive like that.
“The more dope growing, and I’m calling it dope because I’ve seen what goes along with it, the more this will continue to happen.
“This county has flourished and thrived over many generations with its supply of water but now it’s being turned into a toxic mess benefiting the greed of pot growers.
“The county will go under if we think we can use this water and think it is going to keep
coming back because it’s not. You’re replacing life’s blood with poison.”
Round Valley Indian Tribes is a federally-funded business supporting the seven tribes that live in Round Valley — Yuki, Wailacki, Nomlacki, Littlelake, Pit River, Concow and Pomo — most of whom, except for the original Yuki and Wailacki, were herded into the valley in the mid-19th century.
“Now we’re the ones being invaded by non-native people who are coming in and using our land for monetary profit, growing weed and then leaving it trashed.
“We ordered 12 containers to clean up from all the raids last year; those raids create a massive amount of plastic, PVC pipes, containers with hazardous waste, hazardous pesticide barrels.”
There is no room at the Covelo transfer station. Willits says you can load your truck up in the morning, drive to the station, wait in line for an hour and be told at noon it is full and there is no room for your trash.
“Where does it go? It goes over the side of the Covelo Road.”
It also goes across the road from the transfer station, at the old LP site, where there is a huge and very ugly illegal dump.
“This site is on Native land but it’s not just Natives who are dumping; it’s the ridge growers; it’s the nonnative transient growers.”
She hears of tribal members saying they have to follow the tribal ordinance, the Compassionate Use Ordinance, much smaller than the 10,000 square feet allowed under the current county ordinance, limiting the grow to three hoop houses.
However, she says, there are non-tribal members living next door who have huge, unlicensed grows, well beyond the one-quarter-acre allowance, and some with pending licenses who are still allowed to grow.
Tribal police are busting illegal tribal land grows— with the support of the county when they are very large—but those growing on non-tribal land are not getting busted.
“The county said there would be taxes coming in and planning staff, compliance
officers, to oversee all of this, to handle licensing.
“But there is no compliance; the Tribal Council has not been approached by the county; they are not working with us; we need to back each other up.
“Obviously, there were no plans in place for all of these cannabis grows and it’s ruining our valley—the overwhelming trash, the water usage, the lights that pervade the valley at night.
“There are more lights here than in Ukiah at night; it’s lit up like you wouldn’t believe with the hoop houses and all the grows.
“The state created this mess by legalizing marijuana but they didn’t realize the ramifications; it’s great for people in San Francisco smoking a joint on their porch who are unaware of those of us up here surrounded by illegal growers
jacking up the water. We’re losing a natural resource that we do not have enough of in the first place.
“And where are these tax dollars we’re supposed to have seen; I don’t think we’re seeing it otherwise Sheriff Kendall, who comes up here to talk with us and listens, would have another 10 people on his staff.
“I would like to think that our county leaders will realize what this county is all about; with 14 inches of rain this season, when you can walk across Lake Mendocino, with our streams and rivers drying up, how can they think that having that many growers in this county is OK? That growing way more plants and using way more water is a good idea? They’re probably very well-educated but they’re not very wise.”