OFFICIALS BATTLE NEW FOREST THREAT: MARIJUANA GROWING

U.S. Forest Service officials have ramped up efforts this year to
combat what they say is a threat to the health of the San Bernardino
National Forest.

It's not the usual suspects: beetles, fires and more
people.

It's marijuana.

The pot-harvesting season is under way and will last until fall. So
far this year, officials have removed about 80,000 marijuana plants
from the forest. If each plant is worth $3,500, as law enforcement
estimates, that comes to $280 million's worth of marijuana removed
from the forest in the last few weeks.

On Thursday and Friday, officials from the U.S. Forest Service, San
Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency
and the multi-agency Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, raided a
marijuana farm growing in the forest's Bear Creek drainage west of Big
Bear Lake.

They removed more than 10,000 plants and 60 pounds of processed
marijuana bud and arrested five people. The marijuana farm covered
about one square mile, said sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

Officials also found two rifles at the camp where the suspects were
living, she said.

Marijuana growers often live at the camps for three to six months, she
said.

On Wednesday, officials removed more than 5,000 plants and two rifles
from a canyon northwest of Lake Arrowhead and made two arrests.

Both grows were on such steep terrain that officials had to hike more
than two hours to get there.

Both were also found during aerial surveillance but are not thought to
be connected, Miller said.

In addition to those raids last week, officials removed more than
40,000 plants from the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains in the
past two weeks. Both ranges are in Riverside County but still part of
the San Bernardino National Forest.

No arrests were made in those raids.

The marijuana tends to grow around water sources, stealing water from
forest plants and animals, said Forest Service spokesman John Miller.
Fertilizers and chemicals used to help grow the marijuana also pollute
the water supply, he said.

Diversion of water sources can also lead to erosion, and the farming
also leaves waste in the forest, officials say.

The seven suspects are being held at the Central Detention Center in
San Bernardino.

They have been charged with cultivation of marijuana in excess of
1,000 plants and conspiracy to cultivate by U.S. attorneys in Santa
Ana and face trial in Los Angeles. The two men arrested Wednesday will
also face charges of carrying a firearm unlawfully during the
commission of a felony, according to the Forest Service.