Rangers seize 7,428 marijuana plants from three Yosemite gardens
Yosemite rangers with the Mariposa County sheriff, the Army National Guard and California's CAMP eradicated three linked marijuana gardens in the park on 13 August 2007, seizing 7,428 mature plants valued at about $22 million. The sites showed the irrigation and chemical use typical of Mexican trafficking operations, and no arrests were reported.
🇺🇸 Yosemite National Park · California, United States
On Monday 13 August 2007 Yosemite park rangers located and seized 7,428 mature marijuana plants from three gardens in the park, all part of the same growing operation.[1][2][3]The plants were valued at about $22 million.[1][2]
Monday’s multi-agency operation brought together several national parks, the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office, the Army National Guard and the California Department of Justice’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP).[1][2]The sites bore the marks of a Mexican drug trafficking enterprise, including a sophisticated watering system and the use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and the growing operation caused considerable damage to natural resources.[1][2]Acting Superintendent Kevin Cann said the activity would not be tolerated in the park, and Chief Ranger Steve Shackelton said the park was keeping a “full court press” on the Mexican organizations growing in the Sierra Nevada.[1]
Case data
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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.
