80% of pot plants in parks

[coolcloo1019]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...terstitialskip

CHICAGO — Mexican drug cartels are stepping up marijuana cultivation in national parks and on other public land, endangering visitors and damaging the environment, law enforcement and National Park Service officials say.
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says 75%-80% of marijuana grown outdoors is on state or federal land. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says there were more than 4.8 million marijuana-plant seizures at outdoor sites in 2006.
Tighter border controls make it harder to smuggle marijuana into the USA, so more Mexican drug networks are growing crops here, Walters says.
"We are finding more marijuana gardens in the park year after year," says Jim Milestone, superintendent of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in Northern California.
"We're dealing with some bad characters," Milestone says. "We are arresting people … who have criminal records in Mexico, and almost all of them are here illegally with false papers."
The number of marijuana plants confiscated on public land in California grew from 40% to 75% of total seizures between 2001-2007, says the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting task force.
Hunting and cleaning up after pot growers diverts resources at a time when parks face chronic funding shortfalls, says Laine Hendricks of the non-profit National Parks Conservation Association.
Recent busts:
• A site with 16,742 marijuana plants was raided last month in North Cascades National Park in Washington state. It was operated by a Mexican organization, says park Superintendent Chip Jenkins.
People living at the site downed trees, dammed creeks and left 1,000 pounds of trash, he says.
• Thousands of marijuana plants were seized last month in Utah's Dixie National Forest. Ignacio Rodriguez was charged with drug and immigration offenses, says Michael Root, a DEA special agent.
The problem is worst on the West Coast, but law-enforcement pressure on growers, Root says, "has pushed them out this way."
• Last month, officials burned thousands of marijuana plants seized in Cook County, Ill., forest preserves. Drug organizations use the Chicago area as a base for distributing marijuana across the Midwest, says DEA special agent Joanna Zoltay.
• In July and August, officials seized more than 340,000 plants, some from Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks.
Ranger Alexandra Picavet says Mexican cartels are responsible for many sites in those parks. They leave behind car batteries and propane tanks and poach deer and birds, she says.
Visitors to wilderness areas are at risk, says Shasta County, Calif., Sheriff Tom Bosenko. "We have found marijuana within a half-mile of public beaches and very short distances from campgrounds and highways," he says. "It's a shame."

Good to know.

[ChristiMarie]

So who wants to go to the park?

[Duceanahalf]

its really common in places like Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. people get killed when they inadvertantly stuble onto the plots and find booby traps

[billybongthorton]

Originally Posted by Duceanahalf

its really common in places like Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. people get killed when they inadvertantly stuble onto the plots and find booby traps

that is true, i see pot plants up and down the alafia river all the time there real easy to spot if you know what youre looking for, i never mess with them though

[Silvia_San]

so what kinda booby traps we talkin about here?

[billybongthorton]

Originally Posted by Silvia_San

so what kinda booby traps we talkin about here?

it depends on if theyer old school or not

my grandpa used to weld little spikes on a metal sheet and surround the field witht hem and take shits on them then camoflauges them so that when the thiefs step on them and ciut their foot they get a nasty infection, id imagine punji traps, the old stick and box trick, and hell there may even be people camping out there patrolling them

[J-Dizzle]

im really interested in how they are endangering visitors and damaging the environment

[billybongthorton]

Originally Posted by J-Dizzle

im really interested in how they are endangering visitors and damaging the environment

people leaving the cheeto bags lying around after stumbling across said plants

there a question mark on top of this post

[dink921]

Originally Posted by J-Dizzle

im really interested in how they are endangering visitors and damaging the environment

possible booby traps, plants that aren't native to the land in which they are planted, fertilizers, garbage, etc.. would be my guess

[NuclearWinter]

What park??

[Duceanahalf]

Originally Posted by Silvia_San

so what kinda booby traps we talkin about here?

fish hooks hanging at eye level, so when your watching where you are stepping you catch hooks in the eyes.
trip wires hooked to shot guns pointed at the trail.
snakes tied to the plant stalks.
spikes like tokin mentioned.
armed rednecks

[Funk]

sweet sounds like fun, i always thought the park was fucking gay

[Silvia_San]

Originally Posted by Duceanahalf

fish hooks hanging at eye level, so when your watching where you are stepping you catch hooks in the eyes.
trip wires hooked to shot guns pointed at the trail.
snakes tied to the plant stalks.
spikes like tokin mentioned.
armed rednecks

fucking awesome.

[Tre Thompson]

I was actually going to go plant alot of random seeds around the parks and come back in 3 months to see if anything grew.

[Kung.]

This reminds me of a pre-released movie "Humboldt Country" I watched last week, Its about these pot farmers in northern cali. Its pretty good for not really being a mainstream movie.

Theater release date: 26 September

disillusioned medical student is stranded for a summer in a remote community of counterculture pot farmers, the last place in the world he imagined he would discover himself.

more info. in the link below

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870122/

[Kung.]

I know this guy that had three or four houses he just had for growing pot in around this area, He quit the business because his best friend since he was a teenager that helped him get rid of it died a year ago.

made lots of money..