COPS HARVEST MASSIVE BAY AREA POT FARM

19 million potential joints cut down

Authorities seized more than 21,000 marijuana plants with a street value of
$84 million this week in Santa Clara County in one of the largest finds of
its kind in state history.

"It's the largest (outdoor) seizure that the Campaign Against Marijuana
Planting program has ever been involved in," said Gil Van Attenhoven,
operations commander for CAMP, which was created in 1983 and involves
state, local and federal authorities.

There were 21,142 plants of high-quality sinsemilla marijuana that were
uprooted late this week from the massive growing operation five miles
southeast of the Calaveres Reservoir, authorities said. The plants have
been destroyed.

The operation was found in a remote canyon area known as Poverty Ridge and
Bl ack Mountain on land owned by the San Francisco Water Department.

"The (growing) organization was definitely impacted," Van Attenhoven said.
"This was a major loss for them. You're looking at over 21,000 plants.
That's a tremendous number of plants."

Just how much marijuana was there? Enough to make 19 million joints, Van
Attenhoven estimated.

It is not the biggest pot farm discovered in the state, however. Glenn
County set the record for the largest seizure of pot plants in 1983 with
60,000 plants valued at $50 million.

No arrests have been made in the Santa Clara County case. "This is very
unusual for the Bay Area to have this kind of find," said sheriff's Sgt.
Jim Arata.

Authorities were notified about the plantation near the Calaveres Reservoir
after the farm was spotted Wednesday by a National Guard helicopter crew on
a routine training flight.

"The hills were starting to turn brown and the color green of marijuana is
very distinguishable from the a Arata said.

When sheriff's deputies and CAMP agents arrived about 6 a.m. Thursday, they
found guns and three abandoned campsites, Arata said.

Arata said all of the plants were chopped down, ground up with other plants
and wood pulp and buried in a landfill.

Van Attenhoven said that the plants were 3 to 5 feet tall and several weeks
away from being harvested.

The find is the second in a week in Santa Clara County.

On Monday, authorities seized 1,590 plants valued at $8.7 million at the
base of Mount Umunhum near Los Gatos.

No arrests have been made in that case, said Arata, adding the marijuana
was burned.

When authorities arrived at the second pot farm early Thursday morning,
they found two handguns, an assault rifle and numerous knives as well as
crude cooking stoves made out of clay.

At both growing sites, caretakers watered the marijuana plants by tapping
into nearby springs and creeks through gravity-fed irrigation systems,
Arata said. "Someone had a sizable investment in (the site outside the
Calaveras Reservoir). I'm sure that someone is very disappointed," he said.

1998 San Francisco Examiner

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski