Sheriff's Department Completes Week Long Marijuana Eradication

Los Padres National Forest - July 31st, 2008

Earlier this week, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department began the task of annual Marijuana Eradication.  The Sheriff’s Department identifies marijuana fields in Santa Barbara County throughout the year.  The majority of these grows are found in the National Forest areas of the county. Working in conjunction with the Department of Justice CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Production) task force and the National Forest Service, approximately 35 law enforcement personnel participated in the eradication efforts.

Over a three day period, the operation cleared grows in 3 separate locations, all within the National Forest.  The locations included two large grows in the Juncal Dam area which yielded 13,501 plants, three separate grows in a wilderness area west of Lake Cachuma which yielded 18,555 plants, and four grows in Bear Canyon area which yielded 2,940 plants.  In total, the Sheriff’s Department seized 34,996 mature marijuana plants.  The estimated street value of the plants seized totals $87,490,000.00 according to a DEA valuation. 

No arrests were made during the operations.  Evidence recovered at several locations indicate that Mexican Nationals were living in grows and tending to them.  Over the years, Mexican Nationals have had an increased presence in illegal marijuana cultivation in the United States.

Large-scale marijuana cultivation is a serious and increasingly widespread problem on public lands in California, including the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County.  These illegal operations threaten the safety of our residents and visitors to the National Forest as well as harming the environment.  The increasingly large and sophisticated marijuana plantations are very often the work of dangerous drug cartels. Forest visitors or residents who happen upon them may be harassed or assaulted.  The growers are usually armed, sometimes with automatic weapons and high-power rifles, and they have been known to place “booby-traps” designed to seriously maim or kill intruders. 

Visitors to the National Forrest who observe individuals carrying irrigation tubing, packing in large amounts of food, the same vehicle parked in the same area multiple times per week/month, new trails or increased use to areas where there would appear to be no attraction, or unusual lack of water flow in creeks should contact the Sheriff’s Department immediately.

For more information on CAMP, visit; http://ag.ca.gov/bne/camp.htm

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