Publications

@phdthesis{Parker-Shames2022,

title = {Ecological Outcomes of Cannabis Legalization: A multidisciplinary study of cannabis land use change, its social drivers, and environmental outcomes},

author = {Phoebe Parker-Shames},

url = {https://angelo.berkeley.edu/parkershamesdissertation/},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-08-10},

urldate = {2022-08-10},

abstract = {Recent state-level legalizations of recreational cannabis across the US have created a large-scale 

policy experiment that could alter land use patterns and shape wildlife communities. Cannabis 

legalization provides a rare opportunity to study the consequences of land use change in a rural 

agriculture frontier. This dissertation explores the ecological outcomes of cannabis legalization 

by approaching cannabis landscapes as social-ecological systems and combining multiple 

disciplinary approaches. My research takes an interdisciplinary approach to quantifying land use 

change and contributes to our context-specific understanding of wildlife responses to human 

development. Ultimately, this research provides results that are timely and may be useful for 

policy, management, and land use decision-making. 

I begin with an introduction on cannabis landscapes as social-ecological systems. I outline a brief 

history of cannabis farming in the western US, as well as an explanation of my focus on small- 

scale legacy cannabis farming. Then, in Chapter 1, I produce baseline distribution data on 

cannabis land use in southern Oregon, and examine the overlap with sensitive ecological 

features. This chapter addresses the questions: How is cannabis production distributed? Where 

might we be concerned about its environmental impact? In Chapter 2, I use cannabis farmer 

interviews to generate model covariates which contextualize the cannabis land use data from the 

first chapter. Here, I ask: What drives cannabis land use over time? What is the socio-ecological 

context for these drivers? In Chapter 3, I use wildlife camera data to examine the outcomes of 

cannabis land use for animals on and surrounding cannabis farms. This chapter focuses on the 

question: How do wildlife respond to cannabis farming? In Chapter 4, I detail the methodology 

for field experiments that address specific mechanisms of wildlife response to cannabis 

cultivation, asking: What is the role of light and noise disturbance in multi-taxa wildlife response 

to cannabis? Finally, I conclude with a summary of the broad implications of this work, as well 

as future research and policy recommendations.},

keywords = {ecological impacts, Marijuana},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {phdthesis}

}