POT HARVEST PUTS HIKERS IN DANGER

Police Warn Against Straying Onto Marijuana Farms on Public Land

WEST OF ORINDA -- As the police SUV crawled up the dusty and cracked
watershed road, East Bay Regional Park Police Sgt. Paul Wilson turned
around and threw in a caveat in the search for a marijuana garden
hidden by an illegal grower: The grower had not been arrested yet and
may be at the site with a shotgun.

That's the danger of illegal marijuana plots and the danger is
greatest now -- the marijuana bud harvest season -- when growers have
the most to lose.

According to the California Department of Justice, nearly
three-quarters of large marijuana gardens are on public lands. That
poses a threat to hikers, mushroom pickers or just about anyone who
accidentally walk onto a site.

"September through early October is the harvest season," DOJ
spokeswoman RobinSchwanke said. "Growers are told to defend the
gardens at all costs."

Authorities are warning nature seekers to not stick around the gardens.

"Get the heck out of there and try to remember where it is," Wilson
said. "And call police right away."

Signs of Trouble

The East Bay Regional Park Police cover 90,000 acres of public and
private government land in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, and
find many of illegal pot patches in the area.

Last year, for example, a 1,000-marijuana-plant garden was found on
watershed land in Sunol.

There are different qualities of the drug, based on where and how the
plant was grown. Alameda County Narcotics Task Force member and
sheriff's investigator James Hodges said the marijuana buds can run
from $250 per ounce to $8,000 per pound.

Illegal growers and distributors have a lot to gain if their gardens
go unnoticed by authorities.

"People are protecting their grow sites," Wilson said. "They would
want to hurt you because they don't want to get caught."

The purpose of the trip to the marijuana garden west of Orinda was to
point out the telltale signs that a garden is near and to describe a
typical garden.

After meeting Wilson at a police station in Castro Valley, we took a
black and white to a substation near San Pablo Reservoir and
transferred to the four-wheel-drive SUV and joined by officer Ken
Wong, who provided extra security for the tour.

A short drive up the road later, Wong drove past a gate to property
owned by a local water company and up a steep hill, where branches
scratched the sides and roof of the SUV. Only a four-wheel-drive
vehicle can make it up a road like this.

Park police found out about the 200-plant hillside garden on a
regular foot patrol. Helicopters are also commonly used to find
illegal gardens. Wilson said growers may leave markings that help
them find the garden at night or create a trail in the wilderness.
Parks officers are trained to find trails that are not supposed to be
there, he said.

Another sign of an illegal grow site is water blockage in nearby
streams. The growers usually divert water to the gardens. This can be
done with plastic pipes.

Empty containers of pesticides, fertilizers or rodent poisons are
also signs that hikers should heed. The growers need the plants to
grow fast and the critters to stay away. Of course, this is harmful
to the nearby environment. For example, the San Pablo Reservoir is
meant for drinking water and can be polluted by runoff from marijuana gardens.

Poison and Booby Traps

After Wong slowed to a stop, he exited the SUV, walked a little ways
up the road and disappeared up a hill. Wilson explained that the
area had to be secured before we could go up.

Wilson said the grower has been coming to check on the garden every
Saturday, but that the harvest will probably be in a week. That is
when officers hiding around the area would take him down.

"Someone's been up there," Wong's voice crackled through the radio.
"They are starting to cultivate."

The grower was not there at the moment and we were cleared to proceed.

The hike to the garden lasted a strenuous five minutes and included
two stretches of uphill climbing, two stretches of downhill sliding
and a few well-placed logs over creeks.

Wong pointed out a tarp that had dammed up water in a creek, which
the grower presumably used to water the garden. A jacket was on the
ground nearby -- either a mistake by the grower, or a trap to see if
anyone would move it and prove that he had been found.

Wilson said that other common booby traps that hikers may run into
include fish hooks hung at eye level and buried spikes or nails.

A couple of minutes away from the garden, a strong, sweet musty smell
permeated the forest.

After we climbed up to the garden, it was clear that the harvest had
begun. There were marijuana branches drying on the ground, the buds
removed. Trash lined the perimeter of the garden, which was built in
levels on a hillside. Tree branches had been cut to let in the sunlight

Wong pointed to a marijuana leaf.

"This is the stuff you sell to a high school kids and they don't know
any better," he said.

On the way back to the road, Wong trailed behind and covered our
tracks with fresh dirt and leaves to erase any trace that we were here.

The following weekend, the raid was a bust, as the grower failed to
show even though the plants started to dry up. Police plan to try
again in the next few weeks.

"We might have spooked him," Wilson said.

Marijuana grow sites don't have to be found in the middle of nowhere.
A month ago, Wilson said, police destroyed one that was right next to
million-dollar homes, also west of Orinda.

The grower, from South Alameda County, was arrested and bailed out.
But last week he was spotted in the area so police believe he has
another garden nearby.

"It's a gut feeling," Wilson said.

In 2001, parks police found 3,000 plants -- considered a large-scale
garden -- were found hidden under oak trees near the reservoir.

The danger to nature seekers begins when they get too close, Wilson said.

"Basically," he said, "don't go where you are not supposed to."