Skip to main content
Donate

Over 1,000 Marijuana Plants Discovered in Sequoia National Park

By Zach Behrens
August 29, 2011
Support Provided By
A different marijuana grow site in Northern California | Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service

Illegal marijuana cultivation is nothing new in Sequoia National Park. In 2005, it earned the title of having more land used for pot grows than any other National Park unit. Since then, the news headlines have kept rolling in, the most dramatic from CNN: "Pot farms run by 'bad guys' getting closer to tourist spots."

The latest came earlier this month when park rangers discovered 1,016 plants, some reaching over 10 feet in height, near the North Fork area within the park's Foothills district. Among the plants, which had an estimated street value of over $4 million, weapons and used ammunition were found.

A few days before the August 17th raid, rangers stopped a vehicle with five suspects inside. They all fled but left about 40 pounds of processed marijuana inside. A day prior to the raid, another suspicious vehicle was stopped and two people suspected of attempting to resupply the marijuana cultivation site were taken into custody.

Violent encounters with marijuana cultivators are rare, but they do happen. On Sunday in Northern California, a Fort Bragg city councilmember who worked private security for a timber company was shot and killed when investigating grow operation near the Noyo River in Mendocino County. The environmental effects of grow sites are also disastrous.

Further Reading on KCET:
- Reefer Madness: Our National Forests Going To Pot
- How to Identify a Marijuana Cultivation Site, and What to Do

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News