Pubdate: Mon, 10 Sep 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Tricia Schwennesen, The Register-Guard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

AIRBORNE OPERATION: DEPUTIES TAKE TO THE SKIES IN AN EFFORT TO 
ERADICATE ILLEGAL MARIJUANA PLANTS

Pilot Jim Hunt and spotter Andy Bechdolt don warm hats and gloves, 
thick coats and sunglasses before lifting off in their Hughes 0H6 
Alpha helicopter just outside a Eugene Airport hangar.

Like a four-seater gondola hanging from a cable, the aircraft hovers 
and sways before lurching the two Lane County sheriff's deputies east 
toward the horizon.

Following the Mohawk River, Bechdolt peers out the left side of the 
helicopter. There's no door to impede his naked-eye view - only wind 
and the strobe of sunlight hitting the propellers up above.

Binoculars can cause air sickness. Circling around the river banks, 
Bechdolt keeps his eyes on the ground. The hills and landscape flash 
below like a patchwork quilt of different shades of green.

But Bechdolt's looking for a certain shade of green - marijuana green.

Beginning in September, the thick, sticky buds of one of Oregon's 
more prolific illegal drugs ripen and are ready for harvest - which 
is exactly when the Lane County sheriff's office takes to the skies 
to try to eradicate illegal grow operations.

With the help of a Vietnam-era helicopter riddled with bullet holes, 
sheriff's deputies try to spot - from 600 to 1,000 feet up - pot 
"gardens" planted on some 2,400 square miles of public lands.

It's not as hard as Bechdolt said he initially assumed it would be. 
Marijuana green has a blue haze and sticks out from other foliage.

"When I first started doing this, I thought, 'Well, how am I going to 
see anything.' " he said. "But when I did, I was like, 'Well, that's 
how you do it - it just looks different.' " Snuffing out marijuana is 
not as high a priority for local law enforcement as it is for the 
federal government - which foots the bill for the chopper and its 
missions.

"If we have the staff available, we do the work," said Bret Freeman, 
a captain with the sheriff's office. "But if we didn't have federal 
funding, we wouldn't be able to do the work."

More than a decade ago, county officials agreed to yearly contracts 
with the federal Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service 
and the state Department of Justice to fly the helicopter for 
marijuana eradication searches.

Then in 1994, the helicopter, designed for low and slow scouting 
missions, was given to the county as part of a federal surplus 
program - a gift orchestrated by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio. It replaced 
an older helicopter, Freeman said.

The contracts vary from year to year and enable the county to pay the 
pilot, a "spotter" and a ground crew person on an overtime basis for 
the flights, and for the maintenance of the aircraft.

This year, the county received $70,000 and will log 22 flights in 
search of marijuana, Freeman said.

But a lack of dollars limits the county's role. The county is 
responsible for finding the gardens, photographing them and charting 
their locations, he said.

Then it's up to the state and federal agencies to set up 
surveillance, investigate, run a sting and arrest those responsible 
for the garden.

The county gains even when no marijuana is found. That's because the 
federal underwriting allows the county to offset the cost of search 
and rescue missions unrelated to marijuana eradication.

Another bonus, Freeman said, is that the eradication program "gives 
our pilots time to fly during conditions that they would have in 
search and rescue missions - in the mountains and in the forests."

But is the program effective in eradicating marijuana.

Patti Rodgers, a spokeswoman with the Willamette National Forest, 
said it's hard to gauge the program's effectiveness.

"What we do know is that it's not as big a problem now as it has been 
in the past," Rodgers said. "Now, with surveillance we are able to 
catch the people and we are dealing with hundreds of plants vs. 
thousands of plants. We've seen a significant decrease in the 
problem."

Hunt, the helicopter pilot, said he's seen a decline in the amount of 
marijuana grown on local public lands.

When Hunt and Bechdolt took to the air Thursday morning, they focused 
their search on areas with good sun exposure, access to water and 
near a road or a trail.

"They'll drive forever to get to these places, but they won't walk 
forever," Hunt said.

The angle of the sun can be crucial in spotting a garden. The two 
scan for plants that should be about 4 to 6 feet tall and will yield 
about a pound of marijuana.

Depending on the quality of buds, a single plant can be worth $16,000 
to $32,000, according to Freeman.

At one point, Bechdolt thinks he sees something and asks Hunt to fly 
over for another look. But it turns out to be nothing, and the two 
head back to the hangar without success.

The next day, however, Hunt heads out again with another spotter, 
Deputy Chuck Tidball, and they locate three separate pot gardens of 
10 to 20 plants along a creek bed southwest of Eugene.

"One was a really excellent spot - really well hidden," Hunt said. 
"You just have to be in the right place at the right time."
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MAP posted-by: Josh