Marijuana field in county forest valued at $300 million

By Jose Luis Jiménez
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
6:50 p.m. September 17, 2009

EAST COUNTY – A marijuana field with an estimated 48,000 to 51,000 plants was found in the Cleveland National Forest in what authorities called one of the largest illegal-growth operations discovered in San Diego County.

A sheriff's deputy piloting the department's ASTREA helicopter found the field late last week. The deputy is trained to spot marijuana plantings from the air.

The final plants were removed Thursday by federal agents, sheriff's deputies and state employees, who were flown by helicopter to the remote mountain area south of Paso Picacho campground in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.

The plants covered about the size of a “football field,â€