Law enforcement officials said on Friday 29 July 2011 that a two-week operation to purge the Mendocino National Forest of illicit cannabis gardens had uprooted 460,000 plants and led to more than 100 arrests.[1] Representative Mike Thompson’s office reported 102 arrests at 56 grow sites in the same operation, which U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag called critically important against illegal grows on public land.[2]
About 1,500 pounds (about 680 kg) of processed marijuana, 27 guns and 11 vehicles were also seized.[1] The 900,000-acre forest, larger than Rhode Island, spans six counties in the Emerald Triangle, and agents raided more than 50 gardens teeming with trash, irrigation pipes and chemicals that damage forestland and waterways.[1]
Who took part
Six sheriffs’ departments, the state anti-narcotics bureau and at least half a dozen federal agencies took part in the annual summer effort to clear marijuana from public lands.[1] Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, who spearheaded the raids, said none of the busted gardens showed signs of medical-marijuana growing.[1]
Haag said 25 of those arrested were already facing federal charges, and declined to say where the others came from.[1] The decision to focus on the forest followed citizen complaints about confrontations with armed guards at grow sites.[1] Guards, Forest Service workers and volunteers later removed 46,000 pounds of trash, 120 propane tanks, 116,000 feet of pipe, 13 makeshift dams and 57 pounds of pesticide from the raided sites.[1]
