400,000 marijuana plants eradicated in Kings Canyon parks operation
From 12 to 25 July 2009, rangers and 15 other agencies eradicated over 400,000 marijuana plants from 71 illegal sites in and around Kings Canyon National Park under Operation SOS. Officers made over 80 arrests and seized 46 pounds of processed marijuana, 32 weapons, three vehicles and over $40,000 in cash.
🇺🇸 Highway 180 corridor between Grant Grove and Cedar Grove, Kings Canyon National Park, Fresno County · California, United States
From 12 to 25 July 2009, National Park Service law enforcement joined 15 other agencies in Operation SOS (“Save Our Sierra”), organized by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, to clear marijuana grows in and around Kings Canyon National Park.[1]Northern parts of the park lie in Fresno County, and the operation focused on the Highway 180 corridor connecting its frontcountry areas.[1]
Officers eradicated over 400,000 marijuana plants from 71 illegal cultivation sites, most of them on public lands along Highway 180 between Grant Grove and Cedar Grove.[1][2]The sites were tied to Mexican drug trafficking organizations.[1][2]
Law enforcement made over 80 arrests, served five warrants, confiscated 32 weapons, and seized46 pounds (about 20.9 kg) of processed marijuana, three vehicles and over $40,000 in cash.[1][2]National Park Service personnel carried out round-the-clock highway interdiction during the two weeks to disrupt trafficking supply lines in peak season; 29 NPS staff took part, including Yosemite rangers, special agents and a tactical team, and NPS officers made over 40 of the arrests.[1]
Park Superintendent Craig Axtell called the cultivation a major resource threat to the parks.[2]The Park Service noted that 900,000 plants seized over the previous two years carried an estimated street value of $3.6 billion, with no separate value published for this haul.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
80
Plants destroyed
400,000
Cannabis
20.87 kg
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (20.87 kg); Living plants (400,000 plants)
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.
