Pubdate: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ AUTHORITIES HUNTING POT FARM GROWERS Narcotics investigators Saturday continued working to identify the people who planted and cultivated more than 12,000 marijuana plants on land owned by San Mateo County and the City and County of San Francisco. Authorities say they will have to rely on personal papers left at a camp near the marijuana fields to track down the illegal farmers because media attention about the largest seizure of pot in San Mateo County has ruined a chance for police to catch suspects at the growing site. "With all the activity out there in the past week, they're not coming back for a while," said Don O'Keefe, commander of San Mateo County's Narcotics Task Force. The task force confiscated 12,313 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $49 million last week inside the Crystal Springs Watershed and Hubert Park, south of Highway 92 and west of the Crystal Springs Reservoir. The seizure concluded a months-long investigation of the site. O'Keefe said he was confident the dozen agents who scoured the site found all the marijuana plants in the operation. But weather permitting, the agency will continue helicopter searches in coming days. - --- MAP posted-by: GD