Shocking find in a California national park: nearly 2,400 marijuana plants and a gun

National parks are intended to be places to protect the natural beauty of the American wilderness and the vegetation and animals that reside in them. However, the National Park Service is warning that national parks are increasingly being targeted by criminals for illegal marijuana cultivation.

The National Park Service recently announced that it located yet another large-scale operation from the Sequoia National Park. In addition to nearly 2,400 full-grown marijuana plants, they found 2,000 pounds of trash, a semi-automatic pistol and several hazardous chemicals.

Over the past 20 years the NPS says that within the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks almost 300,000 plants with a value of almost $850 million have been eradicated.

13-acre illegal marijuana cultivation removed from Sequoia National Park

The illegal marijuana grow site was located last year, however, it could not be cleaned up until last week due to the presence of hazardous chemicals. That included a gallon of Methamidophos, a highly toxic insecticide banned in the United States since 2009.

National Park Service law enforcement rangers, in cooperation with special agents from the Bureau of Land Management, removed the 2,377 mature marijuana plants spread out over 13 acres along with the waste and chemicals to rehabilitate the site.

In order to run the illegal operation, the criminals cleared a significant amount of natural vegetation, dug terraces into hillsides and diverted water from a nearby creek to several large pits they constructed to store the water.

They also built other infrastructure like irrigation and a campsite, as well as illegally maintaining two miles of trails. The NPS says that there was evidence that poaching of wildlife had occurred.

Illegal marijuana cultivations present a threat beyond the national parks

These illegal marijuana cultivations, operated by drug-trafficking organizations, pose several threats. On the one hand, each marijuana plant uses between six to eight gallons of water a day according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “That [water] would otherwise nurture wildlife and vegetation,” said the NPS.

Furthermore, they don’t just a threat to the national parks but also to communities farther afield.

In the case of Sequoia National Park, water from the mountains travels downstream to the Central Valley where it is used for drinking, bathing and cooking as well as crop irrigation. Hazardous chemicals used to grow the illegal marijuana crops can end up in runoff, tainting the water supply.

The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made yet. The NPS asks that anybody who has information or knows of any illegal cultivation on park land to please call the NPS-wide Tip Line at 888-653-0009.

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