Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Mendocino National Forest will become the place for the latest showdown between growers on public lands and law enforcement with the debut of Full Court Press last week by representatives of local, state and federal agencies.
The new effort to take back the public lands from drug cartels and prevent or reduce the environmental damage the indiscriminate growing of marijuana causes is scheduled to be in place by the next growing season.
While full details are still being worked out, including how it will be funded, representatives from all six counties involved, as well as state and federal agencies, met last Thursday and Friday to kick off the coordinated effort.
With Mendocino National Forest leading the nation in marijuana growing on public lands, and signs of increasing violence in the forest with numerous reports of people being shot at while visiting the forest, the Mendocino Count Board of Supervisors briefly considered declaring a state of emergency in the forest in August.
Mendocino National Forest encompasses 913,306 acres and lies within the boundaries of Mendocino, Tehama, Colusa, Lake, Glenn and Trinity counties. While unwilling to declare a state of emergency within the forest, the new operation called Full Court Press will include eradication, prosecution, mitigation and public information. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, the sparkplug for the new effort, hopes that word of increased scrutiny by itself will reduce the number of grows in MNF by up to 15 percent.
Allman has firm commitments from the California National Guard to supply helicopter support and from the US Forest Service to provide about 30 federal officers. Grants will likely cover any overtime required, leaving the cash strapped counties to pay the salaries of any deputies involved.
The two United States attorneys with jurisdiction within MNF have agreed to prosecute those found growing in the forest. Cartels associated with grows within the forest also are responsible for money laundering, environmental harm and human trafficking.
Allman was in Washington, DC, in October meeting with a variety of federal agencies to line up support for this mult-prong approach to combating the marijuana-growing problem in Mendocino National Forest. The approach is similar to Operation Trident in Southern California.
Operation Trident, a three-county eradication effort involving nearly 450 law enforcement officers from 21 different agencies, including sheriff's deputies from Fresno, Madera and Tulare counties and members of the California National Guard, began in late 2009. The operation targeted illegal grows in the Sierra foothills, primarily on public lands involving the Sierra National Forest in Madera County, and Cleveland National Forest and Sequoia National Forest in Tulare County.
Sequoia National Forest led all national forests in marijuana eradications in 2007 and 2008.
Operation Trident is still going on, but has already resulted in federal indictments of 58 persons, including 24 convictions. By early August the taskforce had eradicated 432,271 marijuana plants, seized 499 pounds of processed marijuana, 4.7 pounds of cocaine, three pounds of methamphetamine, 33 weapons and arrested 97. Operations have continued into October, but updated figures are not yet available.
Information gleaned from those arrested and at the various sites has led to followup investigations in several other counties.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Willits News (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Willits News
Contact: editorial@willitsnews.com
Website: Home - The Willits News
Details: MapInc
Author: Linda Williams
The new effort to take back the public lands from drug cartels and prevent or reduce the environmental damage the indiscriminate growing of marijuana causes is scheduled to be in place by the next growing season.
While full details are still being worked out, including how it will be funded, representatives from all six counties involved, as well as state and federal agencies, met last Thursday and Friday to kick off the coordinated effort.
With Mendocino National Forest leading the nation in marijuana growing on public lands, and signs of increasing violence in the forest with numerous reports of people being shot at while visiting the forest, the Mendocino Count Board of Supervisors briefly considered declaring a state of emergency in the forest in August.
Mendocino National Forest encompasses 913,306 acres and lies within the boundaries of Mendocino, Tehama, Colusa, Lake, Glenn and Trinity counties. While unwilling to declare a state of emergency within the forest, the new operation called Full Court Press will include eradication, prosecution, mitigation and public information. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, the sparkplug for the new effort, hopes that word of increased scrutiny by itself will reduce the number of grows in MNF by up to 15 percent.
Allman has firm commitments from the California National Guard to supply helicopter support and from the US Forest Service to provide about 30 federal officers. Grants will likely cover any overtime required, leaving the cash strapped counties to pay the salaries of any deputies involved.
The two United States attorneys with jurisdiction within MNF have agreed to prosecute those found growing in the forest. Cartels associated with grows within the forest also are responsible for money laundering, environmental harm and human trafficking.
Allman was in Washington, DC, in October meeting with a variety of federal agencies to line up support for this mult-prong approach to combating the marijuana-growing problem in Mendocino National Forest. The approach is similar to Operation Trident in Southern California.
Operation Trident, a three-county eradication effort involving nearly 450 law enforcement officers from 21 different agencies, including sheriff's deputies from Fresno, Madera and Tulare counties and members of the California National Guard, began in late 2009. The operation targeted illegal grows in the Sierra foothills, primarily on public lands involving the Sierra National Forest in Madera County, and Cleveland National Forest and Sequoia National Forest in Tulare County.
Sequoia National Forest led all national forests in marijuana eradications in 2007 and 2008.
Operation Trident is still going on, but has already resulted in federal indictments of 58 persons, including 24 convictions. By early August the taskforce had eradicated 432,271 marijuana plants, seized 499 pounds of processed marijuana, 4.7 pounds of cocaine, three pounds of methamphetamine, 33 weapons and arrested 97. Operations have continued into October, but updated figures are not yet available.
Information gleaned from those arrested and at the various sites has led to followup investigations in several other counties.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Willits News (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Willits News
Contact: editorial@willitsnews.com
Website: Home - The Willits News
Details: MapInc
Author: Linda Williams
