[420 Girl]

As the weather heats up and the Memorial Day weekend fast approaches, representatives of the Mendocino National Forest are warning people to be on the lookout for illegal marijuana gardens in the national forest. "We want the public to be aware that this illegal activity and occupation is taking place if they encounter marijuana gardens on the national forest," said Forest Supervisor Tom Contreras. Last year, law enforcement seized more than 220,000 plants from illegal marijuana grows.

According to national forest reports, the MNF is becoming an increasingly popular place for illegal marijuana growers to plant their crops because the forest is remote, largely uninhabited and has the proper soil fertility and climate to grow the crop. Most marijuana growers begin to plant in May and harvest between September and November.

"If a private citizen comes upon something suspicious, don't enter the area; just leave and notify local law enforcement authorities immediately," said Forest Service Law Enforcement Capt. Julie Lombard. Forest Service law enforcement officers work with county Sheriff's Departments, the California National Guard, and Campaign Against Marijuana Planting teams. Headed by the Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, CAMP teams were created in 1983 for the primary purpose of eradicating illegal marijuana from public lands in California.

Marijuana growers sometimes live in the forest near these illegal gardens for months at a time. Officers have come across these illegal camps with exercise facilities, tree houses, barbed wire fences and numerous firearms, Lombard said. These camps often contain cooking and sleeping areas which are within view of the cultivation site. Some camps have tents, hammocks and sleeping bags on the ground and have been found with large overhanging tarps as cover for the entire campsite.

Current gardens are also larger than they were in the 1980s, where gardens were typically between 100 and 1,000 plants. Modern gardens average between 1,000 and 30,000 plants, Lombard said. "Most of the increase can be attributed to the proliferation of foreign drug trafficking organizations," Lombard said.

The gardens also endanger the environment, according to Forest Service reports. Herbicides and pesticides used to remove local vegetation and rodents, as well as garbage and human waste can all end up in steams where they are a threat to fish.

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