FruityBud
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A park service pilot on a routine flight over the North Cascades National Park service area helped discover a large marijuana farm worth nearly $48 million -- the first such grow operation found in a national park site in the state.
Officials said the farm, which law enforcement officials raided this week, contained more than 16,700 plants. It was well established and resembled the elaborate grow sites run by Mexican drug traffickers plaguing national parks in California, authorities said.
"In the business we're in, the national parks are for the American people, for your kids' kids," said Chip Jenkins, superintendent of the National Cascades National Park Service Complex.
"To have this kind of agricultural assault ... this activity is poisoning the parks."
The growers, who have not been arrested, had cleared about five patches of pine trees in the vast, remote Ross Lake National Recreation Area, which is overseen by the park service.
Jenkins said the growers had terraced the land and used the downed trees as retaining walls and fences. They damned nearby creeks with logs, rocks and debris, and diverted water through PVC piping for precise irrigation.
"They actually had sprinklers," Jenkins said, describing how the sprinklers were attached to trees eight to nine feet off the ground.
Investigators found rodent traps, pesticides, propane canisters, 300 pounds of fertilizer and 9 mm bullets. They also found tarp-covered wood forts, with dirt floors for cooking and upstairs platforms for sleeping.
The bust coincided with a raid by the Chelan County Sheriff's office this week that wiped out 24,000 pot plants, and comes at a time when authorities are seizing record amounts of marijuana plants statewide.
Last year, 296,000 plants were destroyed; this year, authorities expect to exceed that number, said Lt. Rich Wiley, the head of the narcotics division for the Washington State Patrol.
He said the increased seizures are mostly because of a more intense focus by law enforcement.
"We're getting ahead of the curve," Wiley said. "We're finding better techniques to identify them."
But the Ross Lake site had been found by a Park Service pilot who was doing some maintenance work and saw that the land looked unusual.
The site had been along the East Bank trail in the southeast corner of the lake, close to state Route 20.
Jenkins acknowledged the potential danger for hikers in encountering a marijuana farm, but emphasized that the Ross Lake site was extremely secluded.
In California, authorities have been struggling for years with extensive damage caused by marijuana sites in its National Parks and areas, such Sequoia, Whiskeytown and Point Reyes.
The damage often extends for acres, includes the use of destructive chemicals, and involves the killing of bears, deer, rabbits and birds.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/5fhbzk
Officials said the farm, which law enforcement officials raided this week, contained more than 16,700 plants. It was well established and resembled the elaborate grow sites run by Mexican drug traffickers plaguing national parks in California, authorities said.
"In the business we're in, the national parks are for the American people, for your kids' kids," said Chip Jenkins, superintendent of the National Cascades National Park Service Complex.
"To have this kind of agricultural assault ... this activity is poisoning the parks."
The growers, who have not been arrested, had cleared about five patches of pine trees in the vast, remote Ross Lake National Recreation Area, which is overseen by the park service.
Jenkins said the growers had terraced the land and used the downed trees as retaining walls and fences. They damned nearby creeks with logs, rocks and debris, and diverted water through PVC piping for precise irrigation.
"They actually had sprinklers," Jenkins said, describing how the sprinklers were attached to trees eight to nine feet off the ground.
Investigators found rodent traps, pesticides, propane canisters, 300 pounds of fertilizer and 9 mm bullets. They also found tarp-covered wood forts, with dirt floors for cooking and upstairs platforms for sleeping.
The bust coincided with a raid by the Chelan County Sheriff's office this week that wiped out 24,000 pot plants, and comes at a time when authorities are seizing record amounts of marijuana plants statewide.
Last year, 296,000 plants were destroyed; this year, authorities expect to exceed that number, said Lt. Rich Wiley, the head of the narcotics division for the Washington State Patrol.
He said the increased seizures are mostly because of a more intense focus by law enforcement.
"We're getting ahead of the curve," Wiley said. "We're finding better techniques to identify them."
But the Ross Lake site had been found by a Park Service pilot who was doing some maintenance work and saw that the land looked unusual.
The site had been along the East Bank trail in the southeast corner of the lake, close to state Route 20.
Jenkins acknowledged the potential danger for hikers in encountering a marijuana farm, but emphasized that the Ross Lake site was extremely secluded.
In California, authorities have been struggling for years with extensive damage caused by marijuana sites in its National Parks and areas, such Sequoia, Whiskeytown and Point Reyes.
The damage often extends for acres, includes the use of destructive chemicals, and involves the killing of bears, deer, rabbits and birds.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/5fhbzk
