A Redding-based contractor and out-of-state property owner have been fined nearly $300,000 for grading activities associated with marijuana cultivation that resulted in harm to surface waters in the Ono area of Shasta County, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board announced Friday.

The state agency imposed $297,400 in penalties against property owner Christopher Cordes, of Pensacola, Florida, and contractor Eddie Axner Construction Inc.

The case is the first penalty action taken by a multi-agency Cannabis Pilot Project formed to address the adverse environmental impacts caused by marijuana cultivation.  The state and Regional Water Boards and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife teamed up on the task force.

Shasta County Department of Resource Management also assisted.

The grading resulted in “unlawful discharges of sediment to pristine surface waters that provide habitat to aquatic organisms that are an important food source for fish, amphibians, birds and other wildlife,” the water board...