Pubdate: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR) Copyright: 2006 Lee Enterprises Contact: http://www.mvonline.com/support/contact/DHedletters.php Website: http://www.democratherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7 Author: Jerod Williams Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?208 (Environmental Issues) ILLEGAL ALIENS HARM OUR FORESTS The other day I about fell out of my chair when I read Hasso Hering's Sunday column on opening the borders with Mexico and Canada. I am an avid outdoorsman. I have spent a lot of time in the Cascades and Coast Range mountains over the years. I have seen first-hand what illegal aliens have done to our pristine mountains and streams. If you look close, you see where illegal alien crews have stripped our forests of bear grass, salal, mushrooms, Oregon grape and moss. I have also seen where complete cedar and noble fir trees have been stripped of all the limbs, usually killing the tree, so they could sell the limbs for Christmas wreaths. You can usually tell where an illegal crew has been because they always litter the forest with their garbage, food wrappers and beer cans. Granted I am sure there are some people that harvest forest products that are legal and comply with the law, but the majority don't; otherwise they wouldn't always hide their cars in the bush. Very seldom will you see any cops out in the forest, but if you do, take a few minutes to talk to them and you will be surprised to find out what's going on in our forests. It's my understanding that a lot of illegal aliens that are stealing from the forests are actually linked to the Mexican crime families. Since most of the local pot growers can now legally grow their own dope with their medical marijuana cards, most of the marijuana in the forests is being grown by the Mexican families. These Mexican grows aren't 15 to 20 plants -- they are the super grows with several hundred or more plants. It's my understanding that when the illegals are out stealing from the forests in the winter, they are also out scouting for new areas to plant super grows. The illegals in these super grows are almost always armed and have confronted hikers that have stumbled into the wrong area. Oregon doesn't have it as bad as some of the border states, but it's steadily getting worse here. It's getting to the point that we aren't safe in our own forests and Hasso Hering wants to open the borders to everyone. He may want to rethink that one. Jerod Williams, Harrisburg - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom