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A Humboldt County cannabis grower , remove unpermitted ponds and restore streams and wetlands after state officials accused him of violating regulations protecting water supplies, wildlife and waterways.

Of the total, $500,000 is a record penalty for a water rights violation in California. the violations by Joshua Sweet and the companies he owns and manages, Shadow Light Ranch, LLC and The Hills, LLC, continued for years and were 鈥渆gregious,鈥� damaging wetlands and other resources.

Under the settlement, Sweet will have to pay an additional $1 million if the remediation work outlined is not completed.

In a statement to CalMatters, Sweet said, 鈥淚f the full penalty and remediation costs were due today it would take everything I own.鈥�

鈥淎lthough I will follow through with my end of the settlement, I do not believe this is fair or just, and I believe I have already suffered way too much,鈥� Sweet, , said in the emailed statement.

鈥淓ven during our court-mandated settlement conference, they were asked why they would go after a small independent businessman with these type of enormous fines usually reserved for huge corporations that destroy ecosystems.鈥�

In the settlement, Sweet agreed that 鈥渄eveloping the properties in Humboldt County 鈥� resulted in violations of the California Fish and Game Code and the California water Code.鈥�

The companies鈥� 435 acres of land are part of the Emerald Triangle, where cannabis reigns. Springs and streams of the Bear Canyon Creek Watershed cross the land and eventually drain into the South Fork Eel River 鈥� a wild and scenic river that provides critical habitat for of steelhead, Chinook and coho salmon.

The settlement comes as the cannabis , and as its operations, becomes .

The agreement, approved by the Humboldt County Superior Court and is the culmination of years of inspections by state water and wildlife officials dating back to 2016, according to the timeline .

It 鈥渞esolves violations 鈥� that include: the owner鈥檚 destruction of wetland habitat and stream channels; conversion of oak woodland to grow cannabis; and failure to 鈥� satisfy permitting requirements,鈥�

of the State Water Resources Control Board鈥檚 office of enforcement, said Sweet didn鈥檛 have authorization to divert water to the reservoirs and use it. Between 2017 and 2020, Sweet took about 16.2 acre-feet of water for three ponds, according to an email from the water board 鈥� approximately enough to supply about 49 households for a year.

鈥淭he ordered penalties are modest given the scope of damage, the length of time the site has been left unremediated and considering the unjust enrichment or benefit to Mr. Sweet from running a business for several years without going through the necessary permitting process,鈥� said Jeremy Valverde, assistant chief counsel at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in an emailed statement.

Sweet and his businesses 鈥渇or years resisted our attempts to cooperatively work on restoration and recovery of those resources, leaving formal enforcement as our only option,鈥� said Joshua Curtis, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board鈥檚 assistant executive officer.

Sweet said, though, that the case didn鈥檛 have to play out like it did. 鈥淥ffers were made and denied,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here would be no settlement without their need to 鈥榤ake an example of me first鈥�.鈥�

The size of the penalty is notable because the water board has limited powers to enforce California鈥檚 arcane water rights system. A weeklong standoff during a drought, when water in violation of state orders, , or roughly $50 per rancher.

State lawmakers floated a bill last year that could triple the fines for water rights violations, . And in 2022, for cannabis-related violations to $3,500 per day, though this took effect after then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed the complaint.

鈥淭his was an ongoing use by Mr. Sweet and the penalties are over an approximately four-year period for unauthorized diversion and use of water to support cultivation,鈥� West said. 鈥淔ive hundred dollars a day, multiple violations over a four-year period, does really add up. And then again we did have the additional types of violations at play here as well.鈥�

The cannabis operation鈥檚 complex irrigation system came to state officials鈥� attention after Sweet notified the Department of Fish and Wildlife of plans to further develop the property in 2015, the 2020 complaint said.

Over the years, inspections by state agencies turned up 鈥渧iolations 鈥� for unlawful alteration of the bed, channel, or bank of a stream and 鈥� unlawful sediment discharge into waters,鈥� the complaint said. They also turned up storage tanks and three storage ponds, two of which predated his ownership and one that, according to the complaint, Sweet had constructed despite the warning that it needed a permit.

The pond was in a location that 鈥渄isturbs/inundates wetlands with a direct hydrologic connection and discharge to a 鈥� tributary to the South Fork Eel River,鈥� the complaint says. 鈥淎dditionally, the Property鈥檚 other ponds, multiple illegal stream crossings, and road-associated landslide discharge or threaten to discharge to unnamed tributaries of the South Fork Eel River.鈥�

The pond is one of the reasons state officials considered the case egregious, West said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have the opportunity to review and catalog the status of that wetland or the benefits of that wetland before it was destroyed.鈥�

Sweet, the grower, said the lengthy process 鈥渉as caused so much undue and unnecessary strain, pain, and suffering on me and my health, my family, my friends, and this community.鈥�

鈥淚 thought what I was following the law and had hired the proper professional team to abide by the myriad of requirements,鈥� Sweet added. 鈥淢y suffering does not end, and I will continue to struggle for the foreseeable future. Which is, I guess, what they wanted.鈥�