FOREST SERVICE SEEKS HELP IN SPOTTING POT

CEDAR CITY - Forest Service officials are turning to the grass roots -
hikers, hunters, passers-by - to help root out, well, grass. You know, the
illegal kind. Pot. Dope. Weed.

Yes, marijuana increasingly is springing up in remote areas throughout the
West, including Utah, and federal officers are seeking public help in
eliminating the illegal plants from public land.

"A large grow was reported by a citizen last year on the Pine Valley Ranger
District [of the Dixie National Forest] just north of St. George," says
Special Agent Charlie Vaughn, criminal investigator for the Dixie, Fishlake
and Manti-La Sal national forests in southern and central Utah.

Vaughn says officers confiscated 1,700 plants and charged four people with
cultivating them.

He says crews destroyed 680,000 marijuana plants found at more than 1,200
grow sites last year in forests nationwide. Evidence suggests that another
77,600 plants were harvested.

Vaughn warns that the marijuana operations often are associated with other
crimes, including importation and possession of illegal weapons and the
pollution of watersheds.

Tim Clark, Heber City-based patrol captain for Utah's national forests,
advises people who come across pot groves to retrace their steps out of the
area then contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.

"In case there are booby traps, it's best to immediately leave the way you
came in," Clark says.

Vaughn echoes those concerns. "These are not places to linger."

Clark says there have been no confrontations in Utah between passers-by and
growers, who usually live on the site and are armed.

Each year, about one or two operations are located in Utah, usually by
hunters and usually in remote areas. The grow sites spread to Utah, Clark
says, after other states such as California and some in the East created
interagency task forces to spot and eradicate the marijuana groves.

"Pressure in other states has caused them to branch out to more remote
areas like in Utah," he says.

The Forest Service - in conjunction with area law-enforcement agencies -
occasionally conducts aerial flights looking for pot farms. Harvesting
takes place from late August through October.

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How To Identify A Pot Grove:

If the plants - which can reach 12 feet high - have palms sprouting an odd
number of serrated leaves.

If one or more vehicles - possibly with out-of-state plates - show up
regularly in the same isolated area.

If camps, including tents and trailers, are set up where no hunting,
hiking, biking or other recreational activities usually occur.

If structures are located in remote areas with gardening supplies including
bags of herbicides and pesticides.

If signs of cultivation such as piping, soil disturbance, fenced areas, are
seen.

Source: Federal law enforcement officers