GROW-OP SUSPECTED IN MOUNTAINSIDE CLEARCUT

A clearcut on remote Fromme Mountain was apparently done with a
marijuana grow-op in mind, says North Vancouver District Coun. Ernie
Crist.

"There was a fuel container up there," he said. "This is very
disturbing. We could have had a major disaster.

"The suspicion is, it was done for a [marijuana] grow-op," he
said.

An empty 150-litre fuel container was found some distance from the
clearcut.

Park ranger Andy Robinson said about 80 trees were cut down in an
amateurish way and left on the site, presenting "a significant fire
hazard."

The two-to-three-hectare clearing is on the eastern slope of Fromme
Mountain, well away from trails.

Robinson said the trees were probably cut before June 2003, the same
year wildfires raged in Kelowna, and forests were tinder-dry on the
North Shore as well.

District Mayor Janice Harris called it vandalism.

"We want to send a message that we aren't going to tolerate it," she
said.