Pubdate: Sun, 11 Oct 2015
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority

KEEP UP THE MARIJUANA ERADICATION EFFORT ON PUBLIC LANDS

The numbers are truly staggering. Butte County officials say they've 
documented 2,500 marijuana gardens in the county this year, hundreds 
of those on public land in national forests. They've raided and 
eradicated about 20 on national forests, ranging from a few dozen 
plants to more than 9,000.

They know they aren't ridding public spaces of the dangerous and 
environmentally damaging operations. Reporter Andre Byik, who was 
invited along on a raid last week with photographer Emily Bertolino, 
likened the effort to a game of whack-a-mole. You take out one garden 
here, but you know several more are growing over there.

So why bother?

Certainly taxpayers have a right to ask that question. It makes for 
an interesting debate.

Our view in this debate has remained constant: We thank the marijuana 
eradication teams for focusing on public land and insist they keep up 
the effort. To surrender public lands to marijuana growers and 
deprive people of their right to hike, hunt, fish, mountain bike and 
ride horses and ATVs in the backcountry would be a grave injustice.

Running into a pot garden in the middle of the forest is dangerous to 
anyone who happens upon the scene. The crop is worth thousands of 
dollars, and the people guarding it are usually armed.

They are wary of patch pirates, people who come in during harvest 
season and steal a plant or two.

It's deer hunting season right now in the hills. A hunter clad in 
camouflage and carrying a rifle with a scope looks like a patch 
pirate to a grower. It's remarkable and lucky there aren't more 
confrontations. Hunters (and everyone else who uses the outdoors) 
know the best thing to do if they see a garden or irrigation pipe in 
the middle of nowhere is to just back away.

Pot growers are usually smart enough to get far out in the wilderness 
where they aren't as likely to encounter people. They stay a long way 
from roads and foot trails.

Usually when the marijuana eradication teams go on a pot raid, they 
must hike for miles to get to the spot, which is usually found by 
sheriff fly-overs in helicopters. But Wednesday's raid was 
disturbingly close to a road. From where they parked near French 
Creek Road in Brush Creek, above Lake Oroville, it was a mere 
15-minute hike up a steep hillside to get to the growing site.

That's too close to civilization for comfort. When growers get so 
brazen that they are putting plantations within an easy walk of a 
road, we're grateful to see a stepped-up effort to get them out.

Our concern for public safety is just one worrisome aspect. Another 
one just as bothersome is the environmental damage done by pot 
growers in our national forests.

Growers often divert streams for their watering source. Sometimes 
it's the entire stream, killing everything downstream.

They use pesticides that can be harmful to the environment, and rat 
poison that indiscriminately kills other species - such as fishers - as well.

The crop tenders who spend the entire growing season with the plants 
also need food, so it's not uncommon for them to poach a deer or three.

When the growing season is over and the plants have been harvested, 
they leave weeks if not months of trash behind. They certainly aren't 
like leave-no-trace backpackers. They've made their money. They don't 
care if the forest is left pristine.

There are many reasons to continue this fight. We're glad the 
authorities are willing.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom