Thousands Of Marijuana Plants Destroyed

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)

The park continues its aggressive efforts to find and eliminate marijuana plantations on NPS lands. So far this year, staff have found and removed 19,348 plants in three separate operations:

April 22nd – On Earth Day, 7,922 plants were found and removed, along with the associated infrastructure and camping area.

June 6th – Another 5,166 plants, most of them nearing maturity, were found in another area of the park, along with a nursery and drying racks. They were destroyed.

June 9th – Staff eradicated 6,260 plants, most of them still seedlings that hadn’t yet been planted.

Also removed from these areas were 20 pounds of hazardous material (including rodenticides and insecticides in original containers), 158 pounds of unused fertilizer in original containers, two five-gallon propane tanks, two backpack sprayers containing small amounts of unknown liquids, and about 10,000 feet of drip irrigation tubing. Since 2000, more than 176,000 plants have been removed by law enforcement rangers in the two parks. They’ve also found and removed 18,465 pounds of garbage and hazardous waste, including 445 small propane canisters, empty and partially empty packaging from nearly ten gallons of liquid insecticides and 12,900 pounds of fertilizer, and about 23 miles of irrigation hose. All of this was collected from more than 105 plantations and camps illegally cut into the wilderness of Sequoia National Park. The long-term damage that this illegal activity has done on once pristine wilderness is not easy to evaluate at this time, but it is evident in the erosion of the land and the volume of poisons and fertilizers that have been used by the growers in connection with these activities. A more extensive cleanup of these illegal cultivation sites is planned for later this year. The associated investigation continues.

Does this mean everyone won't be smoking the wildwood weed anymore?