POT GARDENS AN 'ECOLOGICAL DISASTER'

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST -- About five minutes after arriving at the
marijuana garden, the High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew was already
separating pesticides, taking down a tent, rolling hundreds of feet
of irrigation hose and putting into trash bags the fresh eggs,
coffee, cooking oil and Pringles scattered on a table made out of
tree branches and cardboard.

Their job: work with federal agencies to restore this part of the
Sequoia National Forest as closely as possible to its natural condition.

The site was discovered two days before. They jump on cleanups
quickly because these sites pose all kinds of risks to people and
nature -- and they don't want the growers to come back.

"Ecosystems damaged could take decades to repair," said John Heil,
spokesman for the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest
Service. "It's pretty much an ecological disaster."

The Messes Made

Marijuana growers make all kinds of environmental messes.

They often divert streams to provide a constant flow of water to
their crops. Hume Lake District Ranger John Exline has seen
irrigation systems miles from the actual water source.

Streams can dry up; flooding can increase when growers dam a stream.
Soil erosion caused by brush, bushes and trees being removed from
sites is also a problem.

Pesticides and fertilizers, some brought illegally from Mexico, can
pollute creeks and groundwater, killing fish and harming animals or
people who drink it.

"You can't take a pesticide out of a creek or out of a bear's belly,"
said Athena Demetry, a park restoration ecologist at Sequoia. Animals
can also be injured or killed by traps growers set to keep them from
eating their crops. Animals sometimes eat fertilizers, too.

Shane Krogen, founder and director of the High Sierra group, said
some fertilizers have a chemical that thins blood in deer.

Another main concern is the safety of federal employees, hunters or
hikers who might stumble upon a marijuana grove.

Growers have shot people, so armed U.S. Park Police or other security
agents accompany federal agencies when they first enter a site and
during restoration.

Exline said it's not so much a question of whether someone will get
hurt by a grower but when.

"It's a cash crop, and it's like gold," he said. "They are going to
protect their crop."

Forest fires can also be fueled by pesticides, plastics and propane
tanks left by growers. Marijuana gardens can also slow fire fighting
efforts if there are armed growers in the area, Heil said.

Tuesday's Bust

Authorities discovered two gardens and two campsites less than a
quarter mile apart in the Sequoia National Park east of Visalia
Tuesday. The site had 3,744 plants, which were immediately removed.

The gardens had an irrigation system with a spigot connected to rows
of black hose weaved between mounds of dirt.

As cleanup crews bagged all the trash, they found bottles of
pesticides, fertilizers and rodent poison. They also found propane
tanks, a shot gun and a .22 caliber rifle.

While searching through trash, Foy held up an unmarked,
bent-out-of-shape metal can. He said a bear probably ate the food and
could have cut its paws or gums in the process.

The site is relatively small, said Exline. Authorities also found
another garden with 22,619 plants about a mile east.

Authorities arrested one suspect but believed three to four others
could have been living at the camp, which is near Balch Park. The two
gardens were close to Pine Creek.

Patrick Foy, a California Department of Fish and Game warden, quoted
the suspect arrested as saying the marijuana garden had been there
for three years. He estimated the growers were there for about four
months this year and already harvested one crop.

Resources Deployed

The federal agency responsible for the land usually does the cleanup,
which can require a helicopter to haul away trash and several
security personnel.

It costs the Forest Service $3,000 to $4,000 per acre for a basic
cleanup, Heil said. Sometimes cleanups take several days, and if the
damage is so extensive the Forest Service has to replant or reroute a
stream back to its original flow, it can cost $11,000 an acre, he said.

About 1.7 million marijuana plants had to be taken out of
California's national forests last year, with 283,248 coming from
Sequoia and the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The Forest Service
has 20 special agents throughout California to find the grow sites,
including three in the Sequoia area, Heil said.

The Forest Service focuses on restoration of severely damaged areas,
but some of the smaller sites sometimes do not get fully cleaned up
because of a lack of funding and personnel.

Exline said it is unique to have a group, like the High Sierra
volunteers, offer to clean the area. Krogen said it is important to
help federal agencies that are understaffed and underfunded.

"This is America. This is our country," he said. "If we wait for
federal agencies to figure it out how to do this, it's just not going
to happen."