Members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department recently destroyed two major marijuana grows in Los Padres National Forest, the first in a number of expected efforts to come as the illegal harvest season begins to bear fruit, so to speak.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Drew Sugars confirmed July 25 that the department—in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Forest Service, and other law enforcement agencies—removed 18,378 plants in two separate locations near the San Antonio Creek and the Romero Canyon areas.
The Department of Justice has appraised the psychedelic plants at $36,756,000—what the department considers the pot’s street value—at approximately $2,000 per plant.
No arrests were made in the operation, however, because the cultivators were long-gone by the time authorities reached the locations, something Sugars said is typical in such an operation.
In addition to the marijuana, authorities confiscated approximately 1,000 pounds of hazardous fertilizers, chemicals, and trash abandoned at the sites.
Sugars said the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County has become a hotbed for remote marijuana grows in previous years, and the amount of marijuana seized in the area has steadily increased over the past few years. Though this particular eradication effort yielded a particularly large catch, Sugars said the department expects this year to produce the first decline in the amount of marijuana seized—not because growers have stepped down their efforts, he explained, but because there are fewer resources available to local law enforcement agents to combat the growers in this cash-strapped budget year.
Authorities say large-scale marijuana cultivation is a major problem in Los Padres, one that threatens the safety of visitors, as well as the environment. The La Brea fire in 2009, which burned more than 90,000 acres in Northern Santa Barbara County, has been blamed on an illegal campfire at a marijuana grow.
Sugars said a pair of backpackers in Cuyama Valley stumbled upon a grow and were subsequently followed back to their car by two individuals who were later arrested but released for lack of evidence.
He said evidence collected at the crime scenes, as well as information provided by eyewitnesses, suggests many of the growers appear to be Mexican nationalists with possible ties to drug cartels.
“It appears it might be easier to get people across the border than drugs,” Sugars said.
The department encourages people who witness any suspicious activity, including individuals packing in large amounts of food or irrigation equipment, to contact the sheriff’s office at 681-4175, or e-mail weedinfo@sbsheriff.org.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2011.
