Lothar121

Marijuana 'Grows' A Nightmare on Forests
Jon Hutchinson | Camp Verde Bugle | 09/12/2006

They are called pot farms, gardens, plantations and "grows." Whatever you call the illegal agricultural marijuana growing endeavors on public land, law enforcement and federal land managers worry the efforts are bringing danger to recreationists and environmental damage to public land in the U.S. And this is harvest season for marijuana.

Jim Payne, a spokesman for the National Forest in the Southwest, says for the first time authorities are openly making the link between the pot farms in U.S. forests and Mexican drug cartels.

He warns hikers, bird watchers and hunters that if they stumble upon a "grow" on public land, they should "immediately turn around, leave the area and call police."

Those tending the crops, which are often foreign nationals, bring guns, ammunition and set booby traps to prevent intrusion into the growing areas.

Payne says an earlier estimate of 1,000 marijuana plants seized at the Castle Canyon Wilderness area this week was perhaps a little high. Authorities now say 550 plants were taken from the rugged Horse Thief Canyon and burned nearby by law enforcement.

The plants were mature and many "had already been stripped" for their valuable buds.

It is the second marijuana "grow" discovered in Yavapai County. In 2005, a hiker found an irrigated operation near Perkinsville, northwest of Clarkdale. Three thousand plants were removed from the area.

We are in the heart of marijuana growing country in Arizona. "The "grows" are typically found in very rugged remote areas along the Mogollon Rim. They gardens are not placed near roads or common trails where they would attract attention."

The laborers often camp for weeks and months at a time in the remote areas. Organizers apparently drop food and equipment at strategic locations for the workers.

The Horse Thief Canyon plantation was found recently when the Sheriff's Office was making a routine patrol and discovered it had been planted with the weed. Wednesday, the Sheriff's office, PANT team, DEA, Flagstaff Metro Narcotics task force, Forest Service and National Guard converged on the site.

The gardeners apparently had been "spooked" and were not found in the area. No arrests have been made. Officers did find two campsites along with sleeping bags, flashlights, shovels and camping equipment. Payne says experience has shown that multiple campsites "indicate a larger growing area." Neighboring canyons east of Crown King were also searched for both suspects and plants but none were found.

Most of the weed was growing on terraces created on the sides of the canyon, with elaborate irrigation systems of black flexible tubing. The farms are typically placed near a water source so that plants may be irrigated by a gravity-fed system. Payne says only one site, the Perkinsville field uprooted last year, was irrigated by a pump from the Verde River.

The Yavapai County gardens tend to be smaller than those on the Tonto Forest. During 2005 and so far this year, 15 total plantations have been routed. Twelve of the "grows" were located on the Tonto, two cases in Yavapai and one in southern Coconino County. A total of 153,449 plants have been uprooted on the 15 marijuana farms. Most of those plants, 128,947, were taken from the Tonto Forest.

Thirteen people, all foreign nationals, have been arrested from the various farms. Nine were charged and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three-and-a-half to 10 years. Payne says all the arrests "have been worker bees" and no one has been arrested who is thought to be an organizer of the operations."

It is believed the Mexican laborers are smuggled across the border in exchange for their labor at the U.S. plots.

Payne says weapons have been found in many of the camps in Arizona, but a person is only charged with a gun offense if he is carrying the weapon at the time of the arrest.

California and the Pacific Northwest have even more elaborate marijuana gardening operations. It is estimated that half of all U.S. grown marijuana is raised in California. Agents put the street value of marijuana planted on national forests in California alone in excess of $1 billion each year.

Four laborers were killed and one forest agent was injured during gunfire exchange during raids in three California forests.

Tolerance4all

There is a quick and easy way to respond to this article. Just use the Web Page link.

If Cannabis were legal. No one would be growing in the wilderness!

dredpiratrobert

If we could all safely grow our own weed at home none of this would be happening out in the woods

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True Patriots Live Free Or Die Trying!!!

Buzzby

Basic economics makes these grows on public land inevitable. If a plant you can grow for a couple of bucks brings in over $1,000, people are going to take the risk to grow it. The only way to halt this misuse of public lands is to legalize marijuana and take away the huge profit motive.

If you really want to make a difference, join and, above all, financially support, NORML, MPP, and DPA. If you're concerned about exposure (which is not a real problem), send a money order in an envelope without your return address.

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)

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