CROP SEIZURES COULD MATCH LAST YEAR'S RECORD

A record 111,000 marijuana plants were seized last year from the
Angeles and Los Padres national forests, and authorities are bracing
for what they say could be an even bigger harvest this year.

More than 6,600 plants valued at more than $16 million were found last
month in two gardens northeast of La Canada-Flintridge, and officials
expect to find similar, sophisticated operations in the coming months.

"There is a significant quantity of marijuana in the national forests
throughout Southern California," said Kathy Good, a spokeswoman for
the Los Padres National Forest. "We will be quite active in the next
few months in detection and eradication."

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confiscated 84,000 plants
last year on federal land, with Ventura County officials uncovering
27,000 plants.

"Last year, we had a record season -- the world's record for Los
Angeles County," said Sgt. Robert Mueller, who heads the Marijuana
Task Force for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Along with the large finds, last year produced a high number of
arrests: nearly two dozen people believed to be members of a Tijuana
drug cartel were arrested following a yearlong, multiagency
investigation.

"It was a large group involved in numerous cultivations in numerous
counties," said Sgt. Bob Garcia, of the Ventura County Sheriff's
Department Narcotics Unit. "Based on their sophistication, that was no
first-time deal."

Most of the 22 suspects have pleaded guilty to federal charges of
cultivating marijuana and are awaiting sentencing, Garcia added.

The arrests, which took place in Oxnard and throughout the San
Fernando Valley, also netted weapons -- including 50 assault rifles
and handguns with silencers -- nine vehicles and $85,000 cash.

Authorities say the same amount of marijuana is grown in forest land
typically between April and October of each year, but that the
cultivators are becoming increasingly sophisticated in concealing
their operation.

"They use more and more remote locations that you and I would not
think of," said Garcia, adding that the cultivators cut their own
paths through the thick forest areas and transport their supplies and
irrigation equipment with them. "It's a tremendous amount of physical
labor."

In the operation uncovered last month, for example, officials said
that all the foliage on the 30-acre site had been chopped down to make
room for the marijuana crop.

Besides using remote locations, officials said, cultivators hang
camouflage netting and natural vegetation over their crop to conceal
it from routine flyovers. The suspects themselves even wear camouflage
clothing and paint their faces to blend into the forest and avoid detection.

And for months at a time, officials said, suspects will set up camp in
the forest, living off the land and killing wildlife as the marijuana
grows.

"Every year I see more and more weapons," Garcia said. "I've been at
cultivations were they've had deer and bear skin and found calendars
that go on for months."

With both water and sunlight needed to grow marijuana, cultivators
will typically plant their gardens near a creek or other water source
or run underground water lines.

Last year, officials located two gardens that had tapped into water
lines -- one from a campground, the other from a private business. As
part of their operation, cultivators had also set up irrigation timers
similar to a residential sprinkler system.

"We kept wondering how they were getting their water," Garcia said.
"Then we dug up their underground water line and timer. They didn't
even have to be there."

Though their procedures are kept confidential, officials said that
they will routinely conduct helicopter flyovers to look for possible
cultivations and work in conjunction with state and federal
organizations to locate and eradicate gardens.

But while they may find the gardens, it's rare that they come across
the cultivators. Those who are sent to tend to their marijuana farms
will abandon their plants, weapons and supplies once they hear
authorities coming their way.

"There is no way for us to approach these things quietly," said
Garcia, adding that like the cultivators they also must cut their own
path through the forest. "It's very difficult."