Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks law enforcement and natural resource staff have completed a week-long project to clean up and restore natural conditions to almost five acres of park land damaged by illegal marijuana growing in wilderness areas.
In a cooperative effort with the California Army National Guard, 5,600 pounds of garbage (159 bags), including 75 propane canisters and 5.8 miles of hose, were removed from the parks. Teams cleaned up resident camp infrastructure from eleven grow sites and nine camps that were occupied by illegal growers in 2007. Among the items in the trash were empty containers from thousands of pounds of fertilizer, pesticides (predominantly malathion), and rodenticides that had been used in a 4.6 acre area.
“As the new district ranger for the Sequoia District, I'm particularly impressed with the effectiveness of this joint, interdisciplinary operation,” said Dan Pontbriand. “Aggressively pursuing persons responsible for these illegal grow operations, cleaning up the sites and restoring them to their natural condition will benefit this park for many years to come."
Illegal marijuana cultivation in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks causes major damage to wilderness areas that were previously undeveloped and in a natural condition. It costs the National Park Service hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to fight this growing problem. Since 2001. the National Park Service has eradicated more than 306,000 marijuana plants worth approximately $968,000,000 from Sequoia National Park.
The fact that there were no injures in these operations, despite very difficult terrain, helicopter operations, and hazardous pesticides, demonstrates the skill and professionalism of the people involved.
Operation Weed Free, the investigation into illegal growing of marijuana in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, continues.
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