Mexican marijuana cartels sully US forests, parks

PORTERVILLE, Calif. — National forests and parks _ long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels _ have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.

The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 _ and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.

Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.

Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.

"What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh. "These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess."

The first documented marijuana cartels were discovered in Sequoia National Park in 1998. Then, officials say, tighter border controls after Sept. 11, 2001, forced industrial-scale growers to move their operations into the United States.

Millions of dollars are spent every year to find and uproot marijuana-growing operations on state and federal lands, but federal officials say no money is budgeted to clean up the environmental mess left behind after helicopters carry off the plants. They are encouraged that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who last year secured funding for eradication, has inquired about the pollution problems.

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In the meantime, the only cleanup is done by volunteers. On Tuesday, the nonprofit High Sierra Trail Crew, founded to improve access to public lands, plans to take 30 people deep into the Sequoia National Forest to carry out miles of drip irrigation pipe, tons of human garbage, volatile propane canisters, and bags and bottles of herbicides and pesticides.

"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, the nonprofit's executive director. "Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"

Last year, law enforcement agents uprooted nearly five million plants in California, nearly a half million in Kentucky and 276,000 in Washington state as the development of hybrid plants has expanded the range of climates marijuana can tolerate.

"People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.

As of Sept. 2, more than 2.2 million plants had been uprooted statewide. The largest single bust in the nation this year netted 482,000 plants in the remote Sierra of Tulare County, the forest service said.

Some popular parks also have suffered damage. In 2007, rangers found more than 20,000 plants in Yosemite National Park and 43,000 plants in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, where 159 grow sites have been discovered over the past 10 years.

Agent Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Game estimated that 1.5 pounds of fertilizers and pesticides is used for every 11.5 plants.

"I've seen the pesticide residue on the plants," Foy said. "You ain't just smoking pot, bud. You're smoking some heavy-duty pesticides from Mexico."

Scott Wanek, the western regional chief ranger for the National Park Service, said he believes the eradication efforts have touched only a small portion of the marijuana farms and that the environmental impact is much greater than anyone knows.

"Think about Sequoia," Wanek said. "The impact goes well beyond the acreage planted. They create huge networks of trail systems, and the chemicals that get into watersheds are potentially very far-reaching _ all the way to drinking water for the downstream communities. We are trying to study that now."

Comments

[gypsy508]

The demand is not waning. Everyone who smokes pot in California knows the quality is deteriorating in the northern counties due to too many people growing outdoors. And rat poison sprinkled on the ground? That cant' be good. Marijuana is probably California's biggest cash crop. I know high schoold dropouts who make $30,000 a month off it. Shame it is still illegal for some bizarre reason. It is the most benign drug out there.

[lungfish]

We've spent billions and billions of dollars on eliminating marijuana use in this country... and to no good effect. Most people feel that its effects on society are minimal and many towns and cities have passed legislation to make marijuana enforcement the lowest law enforcement priority.
Many doctors and several medical associations endorse medical marijuana and many law enforcement officials as well as physicians would rather see it legalised and the harm reduced over the current situation.
The medical effects of smoking marijuana are debated and generally considered minimal. Great Britain and Canada have decriminalized as have several other countries and the results are acceptable alternatives to a prison society.
The surest way to gain control over this environmental situation is to take the profit incentive out of the market by legalizing it and encouraging a legal market. Growers take pride in their product and there is definitely a market for organically grown, pesticide free, ethically safe marijuana...

[peonyharp]

Medicinal use is a big incentive to legalize marijuana. You make some good points, expressed with a good deal of common sense, something that seems in short supply among our government officials.

If the first cartel was discovered and documented in Sequoia Nat'l Park TEN years ago, why has it taken so long for Sen. Feinstein to act?? I don't excuse Sen. Boxer either, as they are both long-time senators (1992). This lethargy toward protecting our environment is unconscionable! Sequoia is California's oldest national park and home to the Giant Sequoia trees known worldwide. That wildlife areas like Yosemite (right in the Senators' backyard), and public lands in other states are under siege because of money, well, why should I be surprised? Money is another religion in this country.

"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, executive director of the High Sierra Trail Crew. Mr. Krogen, thank you! Let's get the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, the Yosemite Association, and Mr. Gore involved if need be.

We are all connected. We are all affected.

[Marklar]

Dear Government,

Legalize Marijuana. It would create jobs. More immediately it would legitamize a whole bunch of people's professions into the GNP, Tax revenue system and would be an instant boost to the economy and government coffers. Since our so called "legitimate" economy isn't working, why not legitimize an economy that thrives even when we declare war on it.

[jon-mullen]

Amen. How is it that the economy is collapsing due to being unable to set prices, and the price of illegal drugs hasn't changed in 10 years?

[lelectra26]

Where have you been? The price of drugs went up in my neighborhood!

[BearsLeft]

Legalize it, tax it, and turn it from a law-enforcement problem and expense into a revenue stream.

[lechatnoir]

a-effing-men.

[leoeris]

Clearly, the only solution here is full and widespread legalization.

[Januarycarol]

Why is smoking anything a good solution?

[guither]

It's not that smoking is the good solution. Legalization has very little to do with smoking marijuana (people do it now). It has to do with eliminating the black market, and the violence, and the corruption, and the taxpayer expense, and the impurities, and the damage to the environment, and the exploding prison industry.

And if you don't like smoking, you can eat it.

[avraamjack]

.
Eating it is vastly superior.
.
the difference between a tricycle and a starship.
.

[PineyWoods]

Januarycarol, it's not a good solution. Nine times out of ten, it's an excuse to indulge in a certain lifestyle.

[edgemo]

I'd support decriminalization FOR USERS. not sellers, who could seriously give a sh** about who they sell to, or quality control of any kind...

[guither]

Why are you in favor of supporting criminal cartels? Legalize the sales and regulate it and you put the criminals out of business. If you keep it illegal, you're just supporting the criminals.

[xrepublican]

Don't smoke myself but it sure seems like legalization would solve a lot of problems AND put cash in governent coffers instead of funding criminal cartels (instead of costing us a fortune and putting people in jail)

[vorpalmusic]

Obviously the status quo is putting more cash in government coffers than the sane alternative you and everyone else here advocates.

[Punkynsnow]

You make an important point that people like PineyWoods seem to miss. Legalization wouldn't force anyone to smoke pot, anymore than people are forced to smoke cigarettes or drink booze simple because they are legal.

We need to lose the Puritan ethics on this issue and look at it economically.