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  1. #1
    Senior Member mapwife's Avatar
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    Mexican cartels pollute US parks, forests with pesticides

    Oct 11, 4:20 PM EDT


    Mexican marijuana cartels use pesticides, herbicides that pollute US parks, forests

    By TRACIE CONE
    Associated Press Writer

    PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- National forests and parks - long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels - have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.

    The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

    Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 - and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.

    Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.

    Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.

    "What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh. "These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess."

    The first documented marijuana cartels were discovered in Sequoia National Park in 1998. Then, officials say, tighter border controls after Sept. 11, 2001, forced industrial-scale growers to move their operations into the United States.

    Millions of dollars are spent every year to find and uproot marijuana-growing operations on state and federal lands, but federal officials say no money is budgeted to clean up the environmental mess left behind after helicopters carry off the plants. They are encouraged that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who last year secured funding for eradication, has inquired about the pollution problems.

    In the meantime, the only cleanup is done by volunteers. On Tuesday, the nonprofit High Sierra Trail Crew, founded to improve access to public lands, plans to take 30 people deep into the Sequoia National Forest to carry out miles of drip irrigation pipe, tons of human garbage, volatile propane canisters, and bags and bottles of herbicides and pesticides.

    "If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, the nonprofit's executive director. "Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"

    Last year, law enforcement agents uprooted nearly five million plants in California, nearly a half million in Kentucky and 276,000 in Washington state as the development of hybrid plants has expanded the range of climates marijuana can tolerate.

    "People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.

    As of Sept. 2, more than 2.2 million plants had been uprooted statewide. The largest single bust in the nation this year netted 482,000 plants in the remote Sierra of Tulare County, the forest service said.

    Some popular parks also have suffered damage. In 2007, rangers found more than 20,000 plants in Yosemite National Park and 43,000 plants in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, where 159 grow sites have been discovered over the past 10 years.

    Agent Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Game estimated that 1.5 pounds of fertilizers and pesticides is used for every 11.5 plants.

    "I've seen the pesticide residue on the plants," Foy said. "You ain't just smoking pot, bud. You're smoking some heavy-duty pesticides from Mexico."

    Scott Wanek, the western regional chief ranger for the National Park Service, said he believes the eradication efforts have touched only a small portion of the marijuana farms and that the environmental impact is much greater than anyone knows.

    "Think about Sequoia," Wanek said. "The impact goes well beyond the acreage planted. They create huge networks of trail systems, and the chemicals that get into watersheds are potentially very far-reaching - all the way to drinking water for the downstream communities. We are trying to study that now."

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/ ... TE=DEFAULT
    Illegal aliens remain exempt from American laws, while they DEMAND American rights...

  2. #2
    Senior Member mapwife's Avatar
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    So, do US authorities care more about environmental damage due to illegal aliens in Forrest Service land or the smuggling of people into the US?

    This article just shows how huge the problem is. With no fence, both things go on unchecked and the government only minimally cares about both. They obviously haven't fixed either problem.

    We need a fence to also keep illegal pesticides out of this Country!
    Illegal aliens remain exempt from American laws, while they DEMAND American rights...

  3. #3
    Senior Member Populist's Avatar
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    Just step back and think about this for a minute: "unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals." Unbelievable. When will this insanity stop. Get the Army involved NOW.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  4. #4
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    To think our beautiful forests are being desecrated like this infuriates me. Much more needs to be done to try to clear this abuse out.
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5
    Senior Member butterbean's Avatar
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    These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals
    FINISH THE FENCE AND PUT TROOPS ON THE BORDER! The drug cartels are destroying plant and animal life. Not to mention they are poisoning humans with chemicals that were banned from the U.S. years ago.
    RIP Butterbean! We miss you and hope you are well in heaven.-- Your ALIPAC friends

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  6. #6
    Senior Member mapwife's Avatar
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    Oct 10, 9:13 PM EDT

    3 BLM workers held at gunpoint at Nev. pot patch

    By MARTIN GRIFFITH
    Associated Press Writer

    RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Three federal biologists were held at gunpoint for several minutes by suspected members of a Mexican drug cartel after happening upon a large marijuana patch in a remote stretch of public land in northern Nevada, authorities said Friday.

    The men, conducting research for the Bureau of Land Management, were released unharmed after being held by three men Tuesday afternoon in the high desert about 200 miles northeast of Reno, near Winnemucca, said JoLynn Worley, an agency spokeswoman.

    Law enforcers returned to the scene Wednesday and found that the suspects had fled, leaving behind a makeshift camp indicating that as many as six people were involved. Authorities confiscated nearly 800 mature marijuana plants with an estimated wholesale value of $5 million, as well as about 150 pounds of processed buds, BLM officials said.

    "This is the first time in Nevada that BLM employees have actually come upon people (at a marijuana garden) and been threatened," Worley said. "I'm not aware of it in any other Western state, either."

    The unarmed biologists were conducting a stream survey when they encountered three men and the pot garden, which stretched for nearly a mile along the North Fork Little Humboldt River, authorities said. Law enforcers said that two men carried handguns and that the third had a rifle with a scope on it. The men were Hispanic; investigators did not say why they suspected the men were part of a Mexican cartel.

    After a tense 10-minute standoff, the BLM employees were told they could leave but ordered to go in the opposite direction because the armed men said there were other people in the direction the BLM workers were headed, Worley said.

    The employees retreated and hid until darkness fell. They were picked up late Tuesday by a BLM search party as they walked along a gravel road toward the community of Paradise Valley, she said.

    "I know they were shaken, and it was certainly a very frightening encounter," Worley said.

    The BLM, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and the Nevada Department of Public Safety Investigative Division are investigating.

    The BLM, which manages most of Nevada's land, warned the public to be aware of their surroundings in remote areas.

    "Basically, any area that is out of the way and has water could be potentially a place for people to grow a pot garden," Worley said.

    © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/ ... SECTION=US
    Illegal aliens remain exempt from American laws, while they DEMAND American rights...

  7. #7
    Senior Member Gogo's Avatar
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    Is anyone faxing this to your representatives in DC? Where are the environmentalists that are screaming about the fence? Where are they who give so much money to stop our energy independence? Where are they who stuff the politicians pockets with money?
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  8. #8
    Senior Member Rebelrouser's Avatar
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    Their is bound to be someone on this site that has connections or know someone with an ecology group. Fax this story to them,also send some of these stories about drunk driving illegals to MADD.Lets see if we can get some of these org. to stop donating to the wrong politicians and get in the forefront of the immigration battle.



    STAND TALL PATRIOTS

  9. #9
    Senior Member miguelina's Avatar
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    The environmentalists think the fence is worse than the damage done by illegal aliens and drug lords. They should be ashamed of themselves. By fighting the fence, they are helping to destroy the environment.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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  10. #10
    Senior Member mapwife's Avatar
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    Yes, one of their biggest issues is that the little animals won't be able to run across.

    The human animals won't be able to run across either!
    Illegal aliens remain exempt from American laws, while they DEMAND American rights...

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