VOLUNTEER CREWS HELP RESTORE PARK HARMED BY POT GROWERS

Volunteers Fanned Out At Castle Rock State Park This Month, Cleaning
Up After Marijuana Growers.

The volunteers, mostly Southern California residents camping in the
Santa Cruz Mountains, wore gloves and hard hats during the weekend
cleanup effort.

Sheriff's deputies found a record number of pot plants -- more than
43,000 plants on 28 plantations -- growing on public and private
lands in Santa Cruz County this year.

The illegal marijuana farms leave environmental damage in the form of
erosion, introduction of non-native species and animals poisoned by chemicals.

"It's a growing problem, and it's increased every year, the number of
gardens that have been planted on public lands," said State Parks
ranger supervisor Mary Hazel, who oversees Castle Rock.

The High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew, a group that does the majority
of its work maintaining trails around Yosemite National Park, was
asked to rehabilitate former pot farm areas.

"It's pretty undramatic. We're sanitary engineers," said Shane
Krogen, director of High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew.