Pubdate: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 Source: Tulare Advance-Register (CA) Contact: 2003, Tulare Advance-Register Website: http://www.tulareadvanceregister.com/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3125 Author: Heidi Rowley FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERESTED IN VALLEY MARIJUANA ISSUES SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK -- Marijuana gardens being planted on state and federal lands is not a simple problem. Multiple agencies spend thousands of hours each year eradicating and then investigating the drug cartels that planted the gardens. And even then, the agencies can't say whether they are making progress. "That's a difficult question to answer," said Richard Martin, superintendent of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. In 2002, 37 gardens and more than 54,000 plants were eradicated from the park. In 2001, Martin said park employees found "just a couple of small plantings." "There may have been more," he said. So far this year, fewer plants have been found, but Martin credits that to the two additional personnel hired specifically to scout out for suspicious activity, he said. On Friday, Martin welcomed three congressmen, including Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, to talk about the marijuana problem on public lands and the narcotics issue in the Central Valley. "Part of this is helping us refine how we want to tackle the marijuana issues," Rep. Mark Souder, R-Indiana, said. Souder is chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Re-sources. Rep. Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, also directed the meeting in the Sequoia National Park during which the three lawmakers questioned representatives from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. The Wilderness Watch group -- not the Sierra Club or Greenpeace -- was the only environmental group that had a position or knew enough about the effects of marijuana gardens on natural resources to send a representative, Ose said. Joe Fontaine, who represented Wilderness Watch, said he is concerned that water is being diverted to feed the marijuana gardens and is affecting the wild plants and habitats of the animals living in the mountains. Fontaine is also concerned that the chemicals and waste will eventually affect the Valley's water supply, he said. Lack of Communication Souder said one of the biggest issues to come out of the hearing was local law enforcement's difficulty finding those involved in marijuana and methamphetamine distribution and production because of a lack of communication with the U.S. Border Patrol. Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman said fingerprints are often recovered from evidence left at marijuana camps or on meth waste dump sites. But his department only has access to fingerprints of people the Sheriff's Department has previously arrested, Wittman said. Souder did not know that local law enforcement didn't have access to the Border Patrol fingerprint database. "The [Border Patrol] issue will be dealt with right away," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk