The U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday, July 16 that over 68,000 marijuana plants have been seized in the Los Padres National Forest west of Pine Mountain, in a region spanning Kern and Ventura Counties.

The Mountain Enterprise was alerted early this week to helicopter-assisted marijuana raids in the forest. Federal, state and local law enforcement agents targeted two areas, where they found plants estimated to have a street value of "more than $306 million," they said.

According to the USFS reports, on Monday, July 14, an estimated 54,000 plants were removed from several plots about 2.5 miles west of Apache Saddle ranger station, at Santiago Creek near Cerro Noroeste Road in Kern County. The plot covered about 20 acres, according to an interview July 16 with Bob Hernandez, USFS Drug Enforcement Coordinator in California.

About forty officers from the United States Forest Service, Kern County Sheriff’s Department, Federal High Intensity Drug Area Task Force (HIDA), the California Department of Justice Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) and the California Department of Fish and Game took part in the operation. The officers found several campsites, irrigation systems, fertilizer, trash, propane tanks and other items in the marijuana plots, they reported.

Large areas of native shrubs and trees were cut down to make room for the plants.

The confiscated marijuana was ferried by helicopters to trucks, then transported to Kern County for disposal, Kathy Good of the USFS said in a Wednesday statement. "No arrests were made at that site and the investigation will continue," she said.

On Tuesday, July 15, forty officers from the USFS, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Bureau and SWAT team worked with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, to remove "more than 14,000 plants" from plots in the Gold Hill area of the national forest in Ventura County. Several campsites and extensive irrigation systems were found in these sites also. The marijuana plants were transported to Ventura County for disposal.

On July 11, Forest Service officers arrested two men. They are currently in custody in Ventura County and the investigation will continue.

Hernandez said these "gardens" were discovered in helicopter fly-overs and the action took place as soon as interagency personnel and support resources could be assembled.

He emphasized that damage to forest habitat, the water table, wildlife and danger to USFS personnel are primary concerns.

"You heard no doubt about a shooting in Santa Clara County between a marijuana grower and a sheriff. These people mean business. On Tuesday, five individuals were stopped in Madera county and arrested with 50 pounds of high grade marijuana. Their water source dried up, so they quickly harvested and processed it to get it out," Hernandez said. He added that firefighters and survey scientists doing their jobs are at risk when they happen upon marijuana growers. Twelve incidents of that kind have been reported this year, he said.

This is part of the July 18, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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