Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jul 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times
Page: A5

RAID TO HELP CALIF. TRIBE HARMED BY POT

Ecosystem, Water Supply Threatened

Impact on Yurok Is Worse Amid Drought

WEITCHPEC, Calif. - The California National Guard on Monday joined 
more than a dozen other agencies to help the Yurok tribe combat 
rampant marijuana grows that have threatened the reservation's water 
supply, harmed its salmon and interfered with cultural ceremonies.

Law-enforcement officers began serving search warrants at about 9 
a.m. in the operation, which came at the request of Yurok officials 
and targeted properties in and near the reservation along the Klamath River.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Drug Enforcement Unit coordinated the 
raid and was joined by, among others, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Justice's North 
State Marijuana Investigation Team, and Yurok police.

State environmental scientists were standing by to enter the 
properties and survey for damage once the sites were secured.

Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O'Rourke joined officers as they staged 
at a hillside fire station Monday morning and thanked them for 
assisting in what was dubbed "Operation Yurok."

"They're stealing millions and millions of gallons of water and it's 
impacting our ecosystem," he told the officers. "We can no longer 
make it into our dance places, our women and children can't leave the 
road to gather. We can't hunt. We can't live the life we've lived for 
thousands of years."

California's largest tribe has sought help combating marijuana grows 
in the past but until now never received such a vigorous response. 
Then the drought hit.

The strains on dual water systems that serve 200 households and rely 
entirely on surface water became apparent last summer, when residents 
began complaining of plummeting pressure.

When tribal staff surveyed the land from a U.S. Coast Guard 
helicopter, they were startled at the number of grows. By this summer 
they had tripled, officials estimated. And when the marijuana crop 
was planted in late spring, community water gauges once again swung 
low. This time, creeks ran dry. "Streams I've seen in prior years 
with more severe droughts where water ran, there's no water now," 
said O'Rourke.

To strengthen its enforcement abilities, the tribal council last fall 
approved a new controlled-substance ordinance that allow for civil 
forfeiture in circumstances where cultivation has harmed the environment.

(All growing on the reservation is illegal, as the Yurok tribe does 
not honor state medical-marijuana law.)

The breakthrough came in April when staffers from the governor's 
office were discussing the drought with tribal officials. Gov. Jerry 
Brown, tribal officials were told, had pressed for California 
National Guard assistance with marijuana eradication and specifically 
urged the Office of the Adjutant General to assist in the Yurok 
operation, said Capt. Pat Bagley, operations officer in charge at the scene.

He was expecting to haul out two miles of irrigation hose at one grow alone.

For the Yurok, the damage is broad. Sediment and chemical runoff have 
suffocated juvenile fish, and warmer, shallower water has triggered 
an increase in the parasite Ceratomyxa shasta, which targets salmon.

Rodenticide has poisoned the Humboldt marten and weasel-like fisher, 
which the Yurok consider sacred. The danger of encroaching on a 
guarded grow site has made it unwise to gather medicine, acorns and 
materials for baskets, or to prepare sites for ceremonial dances.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom