FOREST PRESERVES WAGE THEIR OWN WAR ON POT PLANTS

On bleachers outside the Cook County Forest Preserve headquarters, officials
Thursday displayed some 400 stalks of marijuana they said had been cut down
only that morning from a forest preserve.

The display was part of the latest eradication effort, which this year alone
has yielded more than 56,000 marijuana plants from 18 plots in county
preserves, said Forest Preserve General Supt. Joseph Nevius.

Law enforcement officials put the value of the plants at more than $50
million.

"These live stalks didn't just spring up one day," said Cook County Board
President John Stroger. "They were planted there by drug traffickers."

One arrest has been made in connection with cultivation of the plants in the
preserves. A Cook County resident was charged last month with unlawful
production of cannabis and the manufacture or possession of cannabis with
intent to deliver. Police are not releasing the name of the suspect.

Forest Preserve police have been working with state police and the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration on the marijuana eradication program since last
fall. They have used technological aids such as global positioning systems
and night-vision scopes.

William J. Segarra, a DEA associate special agent, said much more marijuana
is brought to the city from other places than is grown in the preserves.