FOREST POT PROBLEM THE FOCUS AT DAY LONG UKIAH MEETING

A six-county symposium to talk about the problem of marijuana growing
in Mendocino National Forest resulted in commitments across the board
to work on eliminating commercial growing and the environmental damage
it does to the forest.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman was a prime catalyst for the
gathering at which there were representatives from a variety of
federal and state agencies as well as from Mendocino, Lake, Tehama,
Glenn, Colusa and Trinity counties - all of them bordering the
Mendocino National Forest.

Allman was heartened afterwards at the buy-in he saw from all the
state and federal agencies involved.

"Nobody said I don't want to go along with it,'" Allman said. He was
excited about commitments made, for instance, by the Air National
Guard for air support in eradication efforts and from the U.S. Forest
Service for 30 federal police officers on the ground to help.

Allman also was pleased that U.S. Attorneys from both the northern and
eastern districts in California promised to actively prosecute the
cases of commercial operations and environmental damage.

The effort, now officially named Operation Full Court Press will
include eradication, prosecution and public information, through the
media. Allman said he hopes media attention to the new operation alone
will cut back commercial growing in the forest by 10 to 15 percent.

An estimated 85 people gathered at the Hampton Inn in Ukiah (including
supervisors Carre Brown, John McCowen and John Pinches as well as Rep.
Mike Thompson by video link-up) and heard an all-too-familiar overview
of the marijuana cultivation problem in the National Forest, a problem
that became increasingly violent this year and which has led even the
Forest Service to advise people not to wander out onto public lands
during the pot harvest seasons. There was also a presentation by
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims who is a proponent of regional law
enforcement efforts.

"It was 8 hours of productivity," Allman said of day-long
meeting.

On Friday, representatives from the law enforcement agencies will meet
in private to discuss time lines and strategies for Operation Full
Court Press efforts in 2011, while Forest Service personnel will meet
publicly at the Hampton Inn about the non-marijuana challenges in the
forest including grazing and roads.