Pubdate: Fri, 31 Oct 2014
Source: Capital Press (OR)
Copyright: 2014 Capital Press Agriculture Weekly
Contact:  http://www.capitalpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/834
Author: Rich Fairbanks, For the Capital Press
Note: Rich Fairbanks of Jackson County, Ore., worked for the U.S. 
Forest Service for 32 years, mostly as a firefighter and fire 
prevention. For the last two years he taught fire behavior to inmate 
fire crews.

DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD PROTECT NATIONAL FORESTS

Illegal marijuana grows are damaging our national forests. Legalizing 
marijuana will help stop that from happening.

In 32 years working for the U.S. Forest Service, I have seen the 
Northwest's national forests face various threats, from the eruption 
of Mount St. Helens to the drought of 1977. Today, our forests face a 
threat that generates wildfires, deforestation, pollution and 
wildlife poisoning: illegal marijuana grow operations tied to 
international drug cartels. In both 2010 and 2011, law enforcement 
found over 90,000 of their marijuana plants in Oregon's national 
forests, and thousands more doubtless escaped detection. Our national 
forests face an epidemic of marijuana cultivation from the Siskiyou 
to the Wallowa-Whitman.

Many voters know that Measure 91, on the ballot this November, would 
regulate, tax and legalize marijuana sales to adults 21 and older. 
But Measure 91 is also the most effective step we can take to reduce 
the environmental impact from illegal growing operations in our 
public forests. Since Measure 91 would permit licensed marijuana 
farms to supply the legal market at lower cost, the legal supply 
would gradually replace the illegal supply from operations in our 
national forests.

Drug cartels recruit low-income workers with promises of high wages 
and mentions of tree planting jobs, not marijuana. Once in the 
forests, workers are trained, supplied and armed. They are then 
criminals, facing 10 to 15 years in federal prison if caught. While 
taxpayers pay $300,000 to incarcerate a single grower, the cartels 
have no trouble recruiting replacement workers.

The growers hide in remote areas of the forests, generating plenty of 
flammable slash as they clear trees for their grows. They use 
generators, car batteries, pumps and stoves. They are concerned with 
avoiding detection and staying out of prison, not taking precautions 
against forest fires. Between 2006 and 2011, illegal growers in 
California started wildfires that burned 93,535 acres at a cost of $35 million.

Growers have every incentive to maximize their harvest at the expense 
of wildlife. They draw water from nearby creeks and rivers and 
pollute them with chemicals. These are the water sources from which 
we catch steelhead and salmon for our families to eat. Growers also 
douse plants with rodenticides that kill rodents and their predators, 
including the Pacific fisher and Northern spotted owl. A U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service researcher found that in forests near marijuana 
grow sites, 80 percent of fishers and 40 percent of owls tested 
positive for rodenticide.

The cartels are taking advantage of a perfect storm of events: high 
prices for marijuana, pressure on urban indoor grows from 
increasingly aggressive law enforcement and an unprotected expanse of 
public lands. Federal forests are especially vulnerable because 
decades of layoffs have left the forests without "boots on the 
ground," people to watch for illegal activity.

Unlike wildfires, this epidemic of illegal marijuana cultivation on 
public lands is not something that we must endure. If marijuana were 
regulated like tobacco, nobody would be growing marijuana in our 
forests. With legalization, licensed marijuana farms would put cartel 
operations out of business.

Our national forests belong to all of us. They are a magnificent gift 
passed down from previous generations. We need to take care of these 
forests for future generations. Let's pass Measure 91 and get the 
cartels off our land.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom