Copyright 1997 The Seattle Times Company

$800,000 worth of pot plants found in park

by Putsata Reang
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

LAKE SAMMAMISH An Issaquah Police officer's routine helicopter flight
over Lake Sammamish State Park led to the discovery of 400 marijuana
plants and an intricate system of plots and tunnels through thick
blackberry bushes.

Officer Chris Felstad, who leads the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
program for Issaquah Police, and a National Guard pilot spotted the
fields Monday as they were flying between high schools in a
demonstration of drugfighting tools, Issaquah Sgt. Rodney Chinnick
said.

Seven plotted areas were spotted in the southeastern section of the
590acre state park, just north of Costco.

Yesterday, as Felstad flew in another helicopter to guide other
authorities, he found two more plots on the northeastern edge of the
park. Each plot was about 10 by 25 feet.

Police said they uprooted 400 plants worth $800,000. The last bunch was
pulled out yesterday.

At one plot, for example, marijuana plants between 1 and 2 1/2 months
old grew hidden by layers of blackberry bushes about 4 feet high. A
tunnel system led from a hiking trail off East Lake Sammamish Parkway
and was connected to other plots.

Someone would have to crawl to get to the harvest. A shovel and a
pruner were found hidden in underbrush near one of the plots, Chinnick
said.

Police detectives did not see any kind of watering system, but the
plants appeared wellcaredfor and probably had been fertilized, police
said.

No suspects had been located.

Seattle Times Eastside bureau reporter Vikki Ortiz contributed to this
report.