Thread: Drug cartels infiltrating Colorado's national forests

Authorities have seized nearly 20,000 marijuana plants from national forest land in Colorado this summer, part of an apparent expansion of growing operations funded and run by international drug cartels.

The operations pose a significant safety hazard to hikers who may happen upon the armed farmers in the woods. They also threaten streams that can be polluted by chemicals used to grow marijuana.

"I don't want it to get to the point where it is not safe for the public to go out into national forests," said Michael Skinner, assistant agent in charge of the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region.

In the latest discovery, in Pike National Forest near Deckers on Friday, dozens of federal and local agents found a rifle, piles of discarded garbage, propane tanks and more than 14,500 marijuana plants in an area the size of a football field. It could be the largest marijuana-growing operation ever found in Colorado.

Last month, authorities seized 5,100 plants, worth an estimated $2.5 million, from a pot-growing operation in Pike National Forest near Cheesman Reservoir.

Forest Service spokesman Terry McCann said rangers had previously encountered only small mom-and-pop marijuana-growing operations.

The bigger farms found this year indicate that well-funded drug cartels have discovered the Rocky Mountains, Skinner said.

"We don't know why they have decided to come here," he said. "This is new for Colorado. We haven't had time to study the trend."

Federal authorities arrested two suspects in the most recent case, both illegal immigrants from Mexico, Skinner said. He did not release their names or details about charges.

Skinner said he has requested $100,000 this year to cover costs for searching for the farms. He admitted it is a drop in the bucket against a growing problem.

Drug cartels, believed to be based in Mexico, are expanding into national forests to avoid the difficulty of moving marijuana grown in Mexico across the border. To maintain control, they import workers from that nation who spend months living in the forest monitoring the plants, authorities said.

But finding and catching them is difficult. Currently, 29 rangers oversee more than 14 million acres of forests and grasslands in Colorado. Each ranger must monitor an average of 500,000 acres each.

"That's what we're up against," he said.

In the Deckers operation, farmers suspected of being brought from Mexico carried miles of irrigation tubing, propane tanks and farm equipment to the site, about two miles east of Colorado 126.

The marijuana plants were sown on different days so that they could be harvested in stages, Skinner said, and the operators built a large shed where bundles of marijuana were hanging from the ceiling to dry.

The marijuana farmers used pesticides, weed killers and rat poison on crops within a few feet of Gunbarrel Creek. So chemicals could have drained into Gunbarrel, which empties into the South Platte River.

Workers stay close to the farms during the entire growing season, posing a safety risk to anyone hiking or hunting in the national forests.

Although no one in Colorado is known to have been attacked or killed while mistakenly walking into a marijuana growing camp, the potential is there, Skinner said.

He said people hiking in national forests need to be aware of several red flags, including trails formed where there shouldn't be any, as well as tortilla wrappers and beer, Spam and tuna cans left on them.

Also, people should not take the time to take pictures or record GPS positions. They should quickly hike away and call authorities, Skinner said.

Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13212051

Wonder where the environmental groups are???
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August 29, 2009
Marijuana found in another national park

Ben Conery

The Drug Enforcement Administration Friday announced that it found 14,500 marijuana plants growing in a Colorado national park, the latest in a series of such finds in national parks that authorities say are linked to Mexican drug cartels.

Authorities say they have seen an increase in outdoor marijuana operations run by Mexican drug cartels. In the past several months, federal agents have found nearly $55 million worth of pot plants in national parks and on federal lands in California, Colorado and Idaho.

On Thursday, authorities closed a section of Sequoia National Park in California so they could destroy marijuana plants discovered near a cave filled with crystals that is a popular tourist stop. Most of the marijuana already had been harvested. Authorities estimated the plants were worth more than $36 million.

In June, federal authorities seized 2,250 marijuana plants from California's Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreational Area. That same month, hikers in Idaho found a site with 12,545 pot plants.

In the most recent Colorado case, the marijuana was found in "the remote, rugged terrain" of Pike National Forest, which is about 60 miles southwest of Denver. The DEA said it is the largest outdoor marijuana-growing operation ever found in Colorado, with an estimated value of $5 million.

"The persons who were involved in this criminal activity had no regard for the damage caused to the forest and environment by the waste they left behind," said Jeffrey D. Sweetin, special agent in charge of the DEA's Denver office. "The public's safety is also at risk for those who recreate on our public lands due to these trafficking groups operating there."

Authorities say they learned of the marijuana site from a passer-by. DEA said Mexican migrant workers had been recruited to work at the site and harvest plants, which were between 4 feet and 6 feet high.

Authorities tracked down two men associated with the site and arrested them last week, but have released few details about them, including their names.

Mr. Sweetin said growing marijuana on public land in the United States has become attractive to drug cartels as increased border security has made it more difficult to smuggle large quantities of marijuana into the U.S.

And, he said, outdoor operations can be set up for relatively little money. Typically, the sites are tucked away relatively close to all-terrain-vehicle trails and campsites at the parks.

Stopping the proliferation of these sites has become a priority for the National Park Service, which dedicated $3.3 million this year to stop growers at parks in the West, including Yosemite, Sequoia and Redwood national parks.

"Before this, the [National Park Service] had set aside a modest fund for marijuana interdiction - about $150,000 a year over the past five years - and parks competed for this money," said Jeffrey Olson, a spokesman for the Park Service. "The bulk of it went to the Pacific West Region, where most of the marijuana grow sites have been found."

Authorities are concerned about the legal ramifications of such sites and the environmental consequences, which, they say, are severe.

"The impacts are numerous," said Gill Quintana, head of the U.S. Forest Service's Denver branch.

He said these include "damage to the lands due to clearing the areas to prepare the garden site, trash left behind, chemicals used to grow the crop [seeping] into the watershed, and the public-safety issues associated with the recreating public coming in contact with these organizations while they're operating on our national lands."

Earlier this month, investigators in California said they were looking for marijuana growers tied to a Mexican drug cartel that they suspect of igniting the La Brea fire that charred more than 88,000 acres of the Los Padres National Forest in the remote Santa Barbara County mountains northwest of Los Angeles.

The fire, which erupted Aug. 8, is thought to be the first major wildfire in the state caused by drug traffickers, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman said.

In a statement, the Forest Service said the blaze was sparked by a "cooking fire in a marijuana drug-trafficking operation ... believed to be run by a Mexican national drug organization. ... There is evidence that the unburned marijuana garden area has been occupied within the last several days."

No arrests have been made in that case.

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