MARIJUANA GARDEN POTENTIALLY WORTH $40 MILLION DESTROYED

FEATHER FALLS - Sheriff's deputies harvested a massive marijuana garden
Wednesday morning, nabbing 10,237 plants that police valued at an estimated
$40 million at maturity.

The garden was found in steep and remote terrain beyond Feather Falls.

The well-established plot with two live-in camps was discovered by deputy
James Marshall, a helicopter pilot for the Butte County Sheriff's Office.
The site is near a garden of 7,805 plants discovered two weeks ago that
police claim was worth $24 million. The land of both confiscated gardens is
owned by Sierra Pacific Industries.

The garden has been under surveillance for about two weeks.

"The plants started to wither, so we figured they fled," Sgt. David
Panchesson of the Butte County Sheriff's Office Special Enforcement Unit
said.

The coordinated drug enforcement team included the state Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting (CAMP), Butte County Sheriff's Office Marijuana
Eradication Unit, the Butte County Special Incident Response Team and the
Special Enforcement Unit, as well as the National Guard.

"This is not the first season. This is a very large and very established
operation, maybe been here for five or six years," said Sonja Barna,
Operations Commander, Department of Justice.

Carefully cleared growing areas protected from aerial observation by the
forest canopy stretched several football fields in length.

A lot of time had been invested in the rustic tables, platforms and chairs
made of hand-carved poles lashed together. A lookout platform was crudely
constructed.

Nine sleeping bags and food stores for several months were confiscated.
Armor-piercing bullets and rifle ammunition was discovered.

Human-size scarecrow dummies were found, complete with black tape and duct
tape weapons in their hands.

The helicopter airlifted loads of about 500 pounds at a time out of the
garden and up to a clear area where the marijuana could be transported to
the Sheriff's Office for incineration.

With the helicopter, a normal two-day operation was accomplished in about
six hours.

At maturity each plant yields approximately a pound of marijuana to sell at
a price of $3,500 to $4,000.

In full operation now for about three weeks, the CAMP activities in the
state have netted more than 70,126 plants at an estimated value of more than
$280 million.

"We believe this is the same group as the last one," said Panchesson. "We do
have some names we're researching."