By Gary Meyer

Five local volunteers with a pickup truck are needed Thursday, Dec. 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help a crew of Patagonia employees and Los Padres ForestWatch (LPFW) to clean up an illegal pot farm site on Frazier Mountain.

When local citizens alerted law enforcement and this newspaper, The Mountain Enterprise reported about the illegal site, then contacted LPFW for assistance in coordinating a cleanup.

LPFW’s Craig Carey is bringing 15 volunteers from Ventura’s Patagonia headquarters and five LPFW people. At 9 a.m. they will meet the five Mountain Community volunteers at the Frazier Park Public Utilities District office (4020 Park Drive, Frazier Park) for sign-in and U.S. Forest Service briefing.

Two pickup trucks are needed to help haul away refuse. Items to be hauled away include an irrigation system, chemical spray equipment, bags of trash and other materials from the makeshift campsite.

In July, Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) was busy taking down three other pot farms discovered while the wildfires were being fought in Digier Canyon.

Frazier Park substation Sergeant Mark Brown said plants from the three large grows (over 18,000) were confiscated, but the Frazier Mountain site plants were hastily harvested before they could be destroyed. USFS wasn’t staffed to clear up the mess. Volunteers will help restore the habitat.

Contact Carey at 805-617-4610 ext. 3 (or craig@LPFW.org). You can also leave your contact info with The Mountain Enterprise at 661-245-3794.

This is part of the November 29, 2013 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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