FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERESTED IN VALLEY MARIJUANA ISSUES

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK -- Marijuana gardens being planted on state and
federal lands is not a simple problem.

Multiple agencies spend thousands of hours each year eradicating and then
investigating the drug cartels that planted the gardens. And even then, the
agencies can't say whether they are making progress.

"That's a difficult question to answer," said Richard Martin, superintendent
of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks.

In 2002, 37 gardens and more than 54,000 plants were eradicated from the
park.

In 2001, Martin said park employees found "just a couple of small
plantings."

"There may have been more," he said.

So far this year, fewer plants have been found, but Martin credits that to
the two additional personnel hired specifically to scout out for suspicious
activity, he said.

On Friday, Martin welcomed three congressmen, including Rep. Devin Nunes,
R-Visalia, to talk about the marijuana problem on public lands and the
narcotics issue in the Central Valley.

"Part of this is helping us refine how we want to tackle the marijuana
issues," Rep. Mark Souder, R-Indiana, said.

Souder is chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and
Human Re-sources.

Rep. Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, also directed the meeting in the
Sequoia National Park during which the three lawmakers questioned
representatives from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The Wilderness Watch group -- not the Sierra Club or Greenpeace -- was the
only environmental group that had a position or knew enough about the
effects of marijuana gardens on natural resources to send a representative,
Ose said.

Joe Fontaine, who represented Wilderness Watch, said he is concerned that
water is being diverted to feed the marijuana gardens and is affecting the
wild plants and habitats of the animals living in the mountains.

Fontaine is also concerned that the chemicals and waste will eventually
affect the Valley's water supply, he said.

Lack of Communication

Souder said one of the biggest issues to come out of the hearing was local
law enforcement's difficulty finding those involved in marijuana and
methamphetamine distribution and production because of a lack of
communication with the U.S. Border Patrol.

Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman said fingerprints are often recovered
from evidence left at marijuana camps or on meth waste dump sites.

But his department only has access to fingerprints of people the Sheriff's
Department has previously arrested, Wittman said.

Souder did not know that local law enforcement didn't have access to the
Border Patrol fingerprint database.

"The [Border Patrol] issue will be dealt with right away," he said.