Lake County News - ‘Operation Full Court Press' takes aim at illicit marijuana grows on public lands
Operation Full Court Press is taking place in Lake, Mendocino, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Trinity counties, with emphasis on the Mendocino National Forest, according to US Attorney Melinda Haag, who spoke at the Friday morning press conference at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Ukiah.
Many of the details surrounding Operation Full Court Press are still not being made public, as they're considered part of the investigation, according both to Haag and Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman - the lone sheriff of the six involved in Operation Full Court Press to appear at the Friday event.
Haag said drug traffickers are abusing the public lands and making them dangerous for visitors, possibly engaging in human trafficking to provide a labor force for the grows and using marijuana growing practices that pollute the environment.
Officials would not disclose the time frame for the operation as well as other specifics in order to protect the work of eradicating the grows.
However, the numbers they did share pointed to a large and aggressive attack on illegal growing on public lands that is believed to be controlled by criminal drug trafficking organizations, which have no qualms about using violence and which, law enforcement officials said, have made the threat to the public as great as it has ever been.
As of Friday morning, Operation Full Court Press had gone into 56 grow sites in the six counties and eradicated approximately 468,950 marijuana plants, with an estimated street value of more than $928 million, officials reported.
The operation also has netted 102 arrests - 89 of which were persons booked on various federal and state charges to include marijuana, firearm, and immigration violations, while 13 were foreign nationals detained on administrative immigration violations who will be processed for removal from the United States.
Altogether, the operation has seized 1,510 pounds of processed marijuana, 18 grams of methamphetamine, 22 Xanax pills, $15,981 U.S. currency, 32 weapons and 11 vehicles, according to statistics provided by the California Department of Justice on Friday.
Operation Full Court Press consists of more than 300 personnel from 27 local, state, and federal agencies.
Participating agencies include the sheriffs' and district attorneys' offices of each of the six focus area counties, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration US Fish and Wildlife, US Forest Services, the Northern California and Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, California National Guard, Civil Air Patrol, Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the US Attorney's Offices for the Northern and Eastern Districts.
Just as important as shutting down the criminal element is stopping the damage to the land itself, which has been heavily impacted by growing practices in the illicit gardens, officials said.
In the course of the operations 23 tons of trash, 22 miles of irrigation line, 2,171 pounds of fertilizer and 57 pounds of pesticides were removed from grow sites, officials reported. In addition, Haag said 13 diversion dams used as garden water sources have been taken.
Officials estimated that removing such nonnative material - the first stage of the restoration process - can cost up to $11,000 per acre.
In the vast Mendocino National Forest, which runs into all of the six participating counties and, at just over 900,000 acres, is roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island - the members of the public who want to use the forest and the animals that live in the wild have been heavily impacted, Haag said.
“This is an intolerable situation and it has to be stopped,” she said.
Among Friday's speakers was Congressman Mike Thompson, who addressed the group of about 40 people via conference call due to the need to stay in Washington, D.C. to vote on debt ceiling-related issues.
Thompson credited Allman's dedication to fighting the illicit grows. “He's lived and breathed this issue for quite some time.”
In 2008, Thompson hosted a meeting of local officials to consider how to respond to the impacts of the grows on public lands. Thompson said Allman took the ball and ran with it.
Thompson said efforts to restore salmon and steelhead are hampered by diverting water sources and the grows' resulting ecological damage. “Every time we take a step forward these guys push us us back two steps more.”
He added that the effort “was long overdue.”
Allman, who as sheriff of Mendocino County deals with many medical marijuana grows conducted in a legal fashion, said the rule is, “Thou shalt not grow on public lands.”
He also guaranteed that Operation Full Court Press is not a one-time event, and that it will continue into 2012 and 2013.
“Growers beware,” he said, reiterating that public lands are not the place to grow marijuana.
Attacking the problem
The problems with illicit marijuana grows have spread across the region over the last several years, according to those on the front lines.
In Glenn County, Sheriff Larry Jones - whose small department has been increasingly squeezed by that county's deep budget cuts - is trying, at the same time, to meet the increased challenges of illegal marijuana grows on public lands.
Many people in Glenn County hunt and recreate in the Mendocino National Forest. “Quite frankly, they're scared,” said Jones in a Friday afternoon interview.
The local rangeland association also is concerned, said Jones, noting that ranchers run cattle in the forest.
Jones said Operation Full Court Press - the planning stages for which began right after last Christmas - is much needed. “Last year was a record year for us as far as plants,” with close to 90,000 plants seized, he said.
During those early planning stages, Jones said he pointed out to other members of the effort that an illegal grower in one county is likely to have operations in other counties as well.
He believes the participating counties are all seeing substantial results.
“It takes a monumental amount of planning and cooperation among all agencies,” he said, adding that “everyone is bending over backwards” to make it work.
Regarding Allman's pledge to continue Operation Full Court Press beyond 2011, Jones said, “It's all going to depend on funding.”
He added, “I have no extra dollars whatsoever to put into this.”
Jones has some DEA and US Forest Service grant money for eradication. “Once that's expended there is no more,” he said.
“We've got to draw that money out as long as we can to combat that plague we face up here in our national forest,” Jones said.
That's a tougher proposition because eradicating illegal marijuana grows on public lands is now a year-round effort, said Jones.
“They still have time to get another crop in before winter sets in,” he said.
Lake County News asked Lake County Sheriff's Office public information officer Capt. James Bauman for information on Lake County Sheriff's resources being used in the effort.
The agency did not directly respond to Lake County News' inquiries, instead sending out a copy of a press release that had been distributed at the Ukiah event.
The other remaining sheriffs in the collaboration couldn't be reached by Lake County News on Friday.
Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson was not in Ukiah on Friday but said later that day, “Our part is going to be prosecution of cases that are not taken to the US Attorney's Office.”
He added, “As far as I know, nothing has been referred to us yet.”
On Friday, Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown lauded Allman's leadership in the effort. Brown has experienced firsthand the impact of illicit marijuana grows, when several years ago he discovered a grow hidden in brush on his Kelseyville property.
On Friday Allman recalled a Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting last year in Covelo during which he said several people stood up and told the board that while making trips into the forest they had been shot at by marijuana growers.
As he measures the success of efforts like Operation Full Court Press, Allman said he wants to hear that people can go back into the forest to enjoy it and not be in danger.
“That will be a good day,” he said.