RECREATIONISTS COULD STUMBLE ON POT GARDENS

A father and daughter were hiking through Del Norte County's
wilderness recently and stumbled upon black hoses, fertilizer bags and
other gardening equipment.

Tourists four-wheeling through remote parts of the Smith River
National Recreation Area encountered some people walking around in the
middle of nowhere. Riding through the same area a few days later they
saw the same people, but again didn't see any indications of how they
got there.

These are the types of signs local law enforcement officials say might
indicate the presence of large-scale outdoor marijuana growing
operations in Del Norte County's public lands.

"The outdoor season basically started July 1st," said sheriff's
Detective Sgt. Steve Morris, who heads the county's outdoor marijuana
garden suppression efforts. "In this day and age you need to be aware
of your environment, and not just in the city."

Morris wants to warn people who take advantage of Del Norte's many
outdoor recreation opportunities of the danger of outdoor marijuana
growing operations, and give them tools to identify what these gardens
look like so they can avoid them.

"We really want them to enjoy their public land," Morris
said.

In 2007, Del Norte saw a 626 percent increase in the amount of
marijuana seized in outdoor gardens, a figure that ranked the county
fifth in the state for the largest increase in a year. One of these
gardens that contributed to the spike had more than 17,000 plants in
it.

With the amount of money at stake in these types of operations, Morris
said it can become dangerous for those who unsuspectingly stumble upon
such an operation.

"The value of those gardens is tremendous and they're going to protect
those crops," he said. "All they want to do is grow that weed, and
they want to protect it. They gotta get out of there with that weed to
get that money."

Sometimes, encounters with outdoor growers can become
violent.

In 2000, a deer hunter and his 8-year-old son were shot by growers
trying to protect their crops in El Dorado County. Both the man and
his son were critically injured-the 8-year-old having buckshot in his
head-but they survived.

Just last week Santa Clara sheriff's deputies shot and killed an armed
man who was guarding a pot farm along with two other armed men who
escaped.

"They're protecting a garden that's worth a lot of money for
themselves and their families," Morris said. "They're worried about
people wandering into their gardens and calling the cops."

There are some red flags that might indicate a person is in a
marijuana garden, Morris said. These things include bags of
fertilizer, gardening equipment, black rubber hoses for irrigation and
freshly cut trails where there likely shouldn't be any.

This is in addition to actually encountering people in the middle of
the forest who don't look like they are recreating.

"If something doesn't look right, it might not be right," Morris
said.

If people think they have found an outdoor growing operation, Morris
said they should immediately leave the area and call law enforcement
to tell them where they saw it.

"Sometimes it's important, sometimes it's just nothing," Morris
said.

Del Norte is expected to see an increase in the amount of marijuana
plants eradicated this year, Morris said, because it received more
money from the federal government to do so and law enforcement only
covered a small portion of the county's public lands in 2007.

Del Norte County is more than 70 percent publicly owned, and much of
this land is secluded. This characteristic is combined with natural
water sources, such as streams and creeks, and many abandoned mining
and logging roads for easy access to isolated areas.

"That makes Del Norte County perfect for it," Morris said of marijuana
growers. "They recognize Del Norte County as being one of the hot spots."

When you find an outdoor marijuana garden

.Turn around and leave the area.

.Remember what you saw and where you saw it. If you have a GPS locator
mark the spot.

.Call local law enforcement. The Del Norte County Sheriff's Office
Felony Investigation Unit's phone number is 707-465-3515. You can also
call rangers at the Smith River National Recreation Area at
707-457-3131.