Rangers remove 20,000-plant marijuana grow from Point Reyes seashore
Rangers and sheriff's deputies removed about 20,000 cannabis plants valued at roughly $50 million from grow sites on Bolinas Ridge and in Olema Valley on 29 August 2006, in one of the largest marijuana seizures ever made in Marin County.
🇺🇸 Bolinas Ridge and Olema Valley, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County · California, United States
National Park Service rangers joined the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Park Police and other agencies in entering several marijuana grow sites in the Olema Valley and Bolinas Ridge areas of Point Reyes National Seashore on 29 August 2006.[1]They confiscated approximately 20,000 plants, which officials valued at about $50 million, in what the park service called one of the largest marijuana operations ever found in Marin County.[1][2]
The San Francisco Chronicle counted 22,740 plants across six terraced sites between Stinson Beach and the Randall Trail south of Olema, about half on Marin Municipal Water District land discovered during a routine aerial search.[2]Growers had cleared vegetation, terraced hillsides, run miles of irrigation hose from streams and spread hundreds of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides.[2]Park officials warned of damage to habitat for the spotted owl, steelhead trout and coho salmon, with cleanup expected to take months.[2][3]A Coast Guard helicopter flew low over the Olema Valley for days lifting netted plants out, after a smaller 2,500-plant site had been cleared in July.[1][3]No arrests were reported at the time.[2]
Photos and video
A helicopter lifts a net of marijuana plants from NPS lands at Point ReyesPhoto details
California's Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force seized or destroyed 55,308 pounds of illicit cannabis and eradicated 108,226 plants between July and September 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom's office said. The quarter's operations across nine counties led to 14 arrests, nine firearms and $29,215 in cash, and brought the state's nine-month total to more than $230 million in cannabis.
Arrested 14Plants destroyed 108,226Cannabis 25.0873 t
Humboldt County sheriff's deputies eradicated about 3,102 cannabis plants and destroyed about 36 pounds of processed cannabis at two unlicensed grows near Alderpoint and Garberville on 5 and 6 October 2026. No arrests were made and the cases were sent to the District Attorney for review.
On 25 September 2026 New Mexico's Regulation and Licensing Department Enforcement Bureau and the Organized Crime Commission raided 102 Howell Road in Estancia, Torrance County, seizing and destroying about 6,300 mature cannabis plants in 21 greenhouses weighing an estimated 21,000 pounds. The case remains open for prosecution.
On 16 September 2026 U.S. Forest Service officers, Glenn County’s Major Crimes Task Force and a Forest Service helicopter team eradicated about 700 cannabis plants from an illegal grow in remote Mendocino National Forest. No arrests were reported.
