$15-MILLION MARIJUANA CROP FOUND, DESTROYED

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST It was the only marijuana crop discovered in Angeles
National Forest so far this year -- but it was so large it took law
enforcement officials four days to cut it all down, police said.

And the farmers growing it certainly weren't friends of the forest, wrecking
the local environment with clear-cutting tools, garbage and pesticides as
they pursued their trade.

Forest Service and law enforcement officials found between 5,000 and 8,000
5-foot plants, divided into about seven plots spread over 20-plus acres,
about a quarter-mile off Angeles Forest Highway in the Lucas Canyon area.
The plants had a street value of about $15 million, police said.

The beginning of the expansive crop was spotted Aug. 16 during a routine
flying operation by the U.S. Forest Service, which regularly patrols the
area looking for marijuana growing.

Officials finished razing the illegal crop on Thursday. Two people were
arrested in the incident, but were later released and by Friday had not been
charged with anything.

Police would not provide the names or any other information about the two
arrested, saying an investigation is ongoing.

Joining forces to cut the cannabis were the Forest Service, the L.A. County
Sheriff's Department and the narcotics division of the Monrovia Police
Department.

After being felled by machetes and other hand tools, the plants were loaded
onto a helicopter and taken to a landfill where officials supervised their
burial, done with heavy equipment.

Gail Wright, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service, said officials typically
find about 10 marijuana operations a year in Angeles National Forest.
Although this latest discovery was the only one found thus far in 1999, its
size was larger than officials usually see. The penalty for growing pot on
federal land, Wright said, is a minimum of 10 years in a federal prison.

"Sometimes it's deceiving in the reconnaissance trips," said Chuck Shamblin,
law enforcement coordinator for the Forest Service. "Once we get into the
area, we sometimes find it is much larger than anything we had sized up."
Marijuana gardens are often found under thick canopies of brush and trees,
making them difficult to see from above.

What made this particular crop unique was the devastation within its proximity.

"There was a lot of resource damage," Wright said. "It will take longer to
haul out the garbage than to haul off the marijuana plants." Found close to
the plants were acres of destroyed plants, profuse litter and evidence of
pesticides that had run into area streams.

"The workers lived in there," said Shamblin. "So there was bodily waste and
waste from food preparation."