Siskiyou County Sheriff Rick Riggins said that approximately 100,000 marijuana plants were discovered at various garden locations in western Siskiyou County last week.
Involved in the discoveries were the Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Eradication Team, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s deputies, Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies, the United States Forest Service, the Department of Fish and Game, and the California Highway Patrol Air Division.
Riggins noted that a representative from the Fish and Game Department came along to assess the damage to the environment caused by marijuana operations.
Riggins said that on Friday, the agencies involved discovered a garden in the Coon Creek area near Happy Camp which housed 73,272 plants and, as the team was leaving the area, they found four other sites, including a garden containing 24,738 marijuana plants.
The discovery of the other gardens, according to Riggins, was a reminder of how tough it is to find them. He said the area had been searched from the air a month ago, and the garden was not detected.
Riggins stated that this time of year is the harvesting point for marijuana, which is generally planted soon after the final frost. He added that harvest time is also one of the most dangerous times of the year because of the close temporal proximity to the actual sale of the finished product.
The value of the seized plants on the market would have been about $49 million, according to Riggins, who explained that each plant is assumed to yield about one pound of finished product, drawing a street value of about $5,000.
Riggins said that the agencies have been working hard to clean up marijuana gardens in the county.
“Our guys have been working hard,” he said, “and Jackson County has been really helpful.”
So far this year, Siskiyou County law enforcement has confiscated over 200,000 marijuana plants. Statewide, Riggins said that different agencies have confiscated many more plants this year than last year.
According to Riggins, the importance of stopping these operations is that they generally fuel the production and dissemination of other drugs, including methamphetamine.
Riggins stressed the importance of hunter awareness of the dangers surrounding marijuana operations, advising any hunters going out for the buck season starting next week to call the Sheriff’s Office if they find anything suspicious in the forest. This may include plants, suspicious persons or PVC pipes that are used to draw water to the gardens.
Yreka, Calif. —
