Jake Brenner (ENVS) co-authored a paper in Environmental Research Letters (open access) that documents the emergence of agricultural frontiers based on cannabis production. This is the most recent in a series of publications on the environmental impacts of the recent cannabis boom in northern California.
This publication resulted from a collaboration between Ithaca College, The Nature Conservancy of California, UC Berkeley, and Humboldt University of Berlin. The project started with a summer research grant from Ithaca College, and it has involved several IC undergraduates over the past few years.
From the abstract:
"Production may expand on frontiers elsewhere in the world, and our results warn that without careful policy and institutional development these frontiers may pose environmental threats, even in locations with otherwise robust environmental laws and regulatory institutions."
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/2018120611470754