Pubdate: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA) Copyright: 2006 The Media News Group Contact: http://www.chicoer.com/feedback Website: http://www.chicoer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861 Note: Does not print letters from outside circulation area Author: Barbara Arrigoni, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST LIFTS RESTRICTIONS WILLOWS -- The Covelo Ranger District of Mendocino National Forest is now safe for Forest Service employees to return to work, officials announced. Mendocino Forest spokeswoman Phebe Brown said the restriction on the area was lifted Tuesday after Mendocino County law enforcement officials said it's safe to return to the area. The Covelo District was closed June 21 to employees as a precautionary measure after the Forest Service was notified that suspects who were believed to be armed and dangerous were either hiding in or passing through the area. The suspects were at large in connection with the shooting deaths June 17 of two Covelo men, reportedly near a 5,000-plant marijuana crop. Five men were arrested last week on suspicion of cultivation of the garden, but so far no arrests have been made in connection with the murders, according to reports. Mendocino Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb had not returned calls by deadline. The Mendocino County garden is one of many that authorities have destroyed recently. In addition to announcing the reopening of the Covelo District, the Forest Service reported nearly 60,000 marijuana plants have been eradicated in the Mendocino Forest in the last four weeks. Federal agents have arrested several people associated with the gardens. Recent flights over the Mendocino Forest have revealed numerous other growing sites, as well, according to the Forest Service. On Thursday, Lake County Sheriff's Office and CAMP joined the forest agents and raided a garden in the Bartlett Springs area. It covered 25 acres in the national forest. No one was arrested, but a shotgun and ammunition were recovered and 8,925 plants were eradicated. Glenn and Tehama County sheriff's deputies, Forest Service officers and Tagmet agents raided a large system of connected marijuana gardens June 8 in the Mendocino forest, about 15 miles from Paskenta. They destroyed 33,371 young plants that would have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars if grown to maturity. Suspects were seen fleeing the area during the raid, but have not been found.