ELIMINATING POT FARM SAVES WILDLIFE

Bird and wildlife were spared certain deaths when rangers discovered
6,000 marijuana seedlings last week at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

The outlaws who run pot plantations often poison birds and animals
that might eat their illegal crops. This time rangers teamed with
Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies and raided the illegal camp
before much damage could be done, reported ranger Gary Brennan, but
missed an arrest when a suspect fled into the woods.

This was the same location where 5,000 plants were discovered in
2005. In addition to killing wildlife, the outlaws divert water,
terrace hillsides, clear the forest understory and cut down trees,
create erosion and leave garbage. The scope of this is often on a
huge scale. After the 2005 illegal camp was found at Big Basin,
volunteers removed 2,800 pounds of garbage.

In the past few years, another major pot farm was also discovered at
Henry W. Coe State Park east of Gilroy. Other pot farms have been
found at Castle Rock State Park and Long Ridge Open Space Preserve on
the south Peninsula's Skyline Ridge, as well as at Butano Redwoods
State Park near Pescadero, with smaller gardens elsewhere. The worst
abuses have been at Sequoia National Forest east of Fresno.

For the inside story of marijuana busts on public land, check the
story, "Wildlife the victim of growing Bay Area marijuana business,"
from August 27, 2006, and archived at sfgate.com.