[420 Girl]

Conservation officers know the backwash of West Virginia where marijuana is grown with abandon, but the Division of Natural Resources bowed out of a federally financed eradication effort this year, blaming the high costs of vehicle maintenance.

That doesn’t mean the DNR is out of the picture for good.

In fact, Lt. Col. Jerry Jenkins says he is working with State Police to rejoin the crackdown on illegal pot next year if details can be ironed out so his officers can ride with the state troopers.

“Their guys are out in the woods all the time,” State Police Capt. Tim Bradley said Wednesday.

“A lot of those officers know the rural areas better than the local troops do, sometimes. We’re going to try to get them involved again by letting them ride with troopers on these details.”

Once he pulled all the figures, Jenkins said, the DNR was actually paying more in vehicle maintenance than the $20,000 overtime pay the federal government allowed for the officers’ participation.

“The marijuana eradication program doesn’t pay for vehicle use or other outside expenses,” he said.

“We were actually spending more money than what the guys were getting. Our funding comes from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. We’re limited on how much we can spend outside the hunting and fishing realm.”

Already, Jenkins has discussed the use of DNR officers next year, provided their vehicles aren’t pressed into service.

“If we can leave our vehicles and just ride with the troopers and don’t have to use our vehicles, we can ride with them to get to what they’re doing,” he said.

Jenkins suggested his officers were more than willing to pitch in on the anti-drug mission.

“Our guys enjoyed helping,” he said. “When the State Police needed help to get into places, we still helped them when we could.

“It’s a shame these programs can’t pay for some of the expenses other than just salaries. We’ve got around 40 vehicles with over 100,000 miles on them. Repair costs are just killing us. Our vehicles get used pretty hard. We’re off the back roads. We’re trying now to get some of vehicles replaced.”

Bradley said the presence of a DNR officer has proved to be a valuable asset, given their familiarity with areas far removed from the main highways.

“We lost a lot of experience and expertise there,” he said.

Marijuana remains West Virginia’s biggest cash crop, evidenced by figures supplied by State Police 1st Sgt. Tony Smith.

Last year, for example, the program witnessed the destruction of 144,131 plants, and, depending on the quality of the marijuana, ranged from $1,000 to $2,000 per plant.

This year, the troopers seized and destroyed 222,621 plants, and if the maximum value were applied, that translates into $44,242,000.

“It’s definitely big business,” Smith said. “We still have a lot of work to do.”

And from all indications, growers are in no mood to let up.

“I expect to see a lot more going on due to the economy and the job loss situation,” Bradley said. “It’s a good operation. We’re doing our planning today, getting ready to plan for our operation next year.”

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