[OG Kush]

Two busts of marijuana-growing operations in the Santa Cruz Mountains this week have authorities on track to surpass last year's anticultivation efforts.

Deputies discovered 6,800 plants 3 to 6 feet tall, the largest find this year, terraced into a steep hillside near the Soquel Demonstration Forest on Thursday, Sgt. Steve Carney with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said.

That brings this year's total confiscation by the Sheriff's Office to more than 14,000 marijuana plants; the outdoor growing season continues for more than three months, Carney said.

Last year, 14,500 plants were confiscated.

The four irrigated plots located Thursday were about a 20 minute hike from the trailhead of a popular 4.7-mile hiking and mountain biking route off of Highland Way in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

"It's a pretty rugged trail, but it wasn't so far off the beaten path," Carney said.

A tip led deputies to the site, which also included two camps stocked with food, he said. Deputies did not find people or weapons, Carney said.

The bust follows the discovery of about 650 plants off of Highway 35 in Castle Rock State Park earlier in the week. Those plants were growing near the site of a clandestine marijuana crop of 6,625 plants deputies uprooted a month ago.

"We actually just missed this one," Carney said.

The 1- to 2-foot plants discovered in June spread across more than an acre of parkland. They were several months from harvest and worth about $250,000, deputies reported. A loaded shotgun and ammunition also were found at a campsite in the area, deputies reported.

Also in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies located a third marijuana-growing operation Monday.

Deputies reported a garden of 1,483 plants nestled in the mountains near Sanborn County Park between Saratoga and Skyline Boulevard.

Growers had cleared an area of the park, put up a fence to keep animals out and lived in a tent near the garden, deputies reported.

The offenders left before deputies arrived, and no arrests have been made.


Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Author: Jennifer Squires
Copyright: 2006 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Contact: jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com
Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com