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Pot Farmers Tilling Ground in Yosemite

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Though much of the news involving national parks and marijuana plantations has been focused on Sequoia National Park, a bust the other day in Yosemite shows that that park has some pretty fertile ground for pot as well.

On Monday rangers in Yosemite raided three marijuana gardens and confiscated nearly 7,500 plants with an estimated street value of $22 million.

"The illegal cultivation sites bore the characteristics of a Mexican drug-trafficking enterprise, including a sophisticated watering system, use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides," say park officials, who didn't identify where in the park the pot gardens were.

Chief Ranger Steve Shackelton says the park is working with several California counties, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, and other national parks to mount a comprehensive campaign against the California-based crime families "that often use illiterate and financially desperate Mexican nationals to do the actual cultivation."

"For years we've been seeing these people make millions of dollars in profit, while they devastate the environment on private property and California's majestic public lands. They destroy habitat, pollute streams with poisons and nitrogen fertilizers, kill wildlife, and pose a fire threat. The only thing missing is public outrage," says the chief ranger.

While it's good to hear parks are trying to crack down on marijuana cultivation within their borders, the problem isn't new and seems to be ongoing, which makes me wonder whether the Park Service truly has the resources it needs to combat this practice?

Comments

Looks like the Park Service is working with every law enforcement agency except ICE. Keep illegals out of the country and out of the parks and this pot growing problem goes away. Until illegal immigration got out of hand, there weren't marijuana fields in the National Parks.


Time for a controlled burn to reduce the understory...

I love how people talk about a fictitious future as though it were set in stone. I can see it now: MaryJane National Monument, a cooperation of big business and greedy government looking for more tax revenue. So long as it's self-supporting, who cares if you have to sell your soul to the devil as part of the bargain? Very sad... and explains a lot about some people's stances regarding a lot of other issues discussed in this forum.

-- Jon


What about those toxic meth labs that are stuck way into the Sierra foothills, talk about chemical junk left behind. Were dealing with a nasty breed of people that could care less about the toxic chemicals that they dump into are pristine streams and rivers surrounding our National Parks. This is a huge national issue that calls for the National Guard to eradicate these deviant criminals from their drug pens, and inflict them with the most severest punishment...off to Pelican Bay!! Remind you, this isn't a fancy play ground for cute kids that go wrong...it's a mean prison for mean people. The only problem is, most of the National Guard is stuck in Bush's war that keeps draining this countries precious resources into a endless hell basket.


I would just love to tell you EXACTLY what I think about tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs, but we're all making this effort to be more civil now, so I'll refrain from insulting folks here, even though it is something I wouldn't hesitate to say in person. For now, you'll have to decipher the metaphors (which isn't really all that difficult).

This is a perfect job for the National Guard, not the National God.

-- Jon


A Chronic Problem....not with Marijuana seeds in Walmart...intresting thought. I say Yes. Sell them in Home Depot too.


The National Guard is never used for routine police work. They were called out for national emergencies like Hurricane Katrina, the L. A. riots and they have been used as support for the Border Patrol.

Pot growing in the National Parks and other public lands is a big problem. But there is no national consensus to legalize marijuana and since politics is the art of the possible, legalization simply isn't going to happen. So we have to look at what is possible. The pot growers are all illegal aliens. The latest Rasmussen poll said that 79% of Americans supported the new crackdown on illegals. Arrest and deport illegal aliens and the pot fields will vanish. Set up checkpoints near the parks that grow pot for valid driver's licenses. Illegals don't have valid driver's licenses in California. Impound their trucks and their equipment.

One of these days some hapless hiker or group of hikers is going to be found shot dead near one of these marijuana fields. Those that want safe parks need to support efforts to crackdown on this crime wave.


That's just it -- I don't consider this routine police work. People from outside our country are here growing, harvesting and selling illegal drugs. If that's not a good use of the National Guard, I don't know what is. And if people don't consider this a national emergency, no wonder we're being so sluggish in our response to it. The FLETC training for park rangers does not adequately prepare them for this line of work.

-- Jon


Beamis, my guess is that you're a fan of DPA.


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