Pot grow eradicated
On June 1, 2015 the Mono County District Attorney’s Office conducted flight operations in accordance with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s marijuana eradication program.
The purpose of the program is to locate large scale outdoor marijuana grows on public lands within Mono County.
Flight operations detected several marijuana grows in rugged and remote locations in southern Mono County. The grow sites ran up to approximately seven miles in length.
As a result, the DA’s Office, with the assistance of the Forest Service, initiated a two month investigation, aided by the Inyo County District Attorney’s Office and the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department since some of the marijuana grows crossed over into Inyo County.
it was determined that the largest grow, located in Mono County, was typical of grows commonly operated by Mexican Drug Trade Organizations. Along with those characteristics, several Hispanic males were identified and were seen tending to the garden armed with rifles.
On August 11, a raid operation was conducted to arrest and detain any gardeners found on the site.
Due to unknown reasons, it was determined that the persons responsible for tending to the garden had fled, leaving the garden unattended. The heavy late July rains appeared to have damaged the marijuana plants within the garden, suspected to be the reason for abandonment.
During eradication and reclamation efforts approximately 40,000 marijuana plants with a conservative street value of well over $2 million dollars were located and destroyed. Inaddition, 4,401 pounds of trash was removed. Some of that consisted of 10.82 miles of irrigation hose and 550 pounds of fertilizer. Numerous other illegal and highly toxic pesticides were found being used in the garden and Hazmat crews later responded to recover and remove those pesticides.
Large scale marijuana gardens on public lands creates a danger to the public and to our recreational users of these lands. Along with the public danger there are also serious environmental impacts that these gardens create. If you ever encounter a marijuana garden you should quickly and quietly remove yourself from the area and call a local law enforcement agency.
