How does this happen?

Every year when I go deer hunting on National Forest land here in California, I get on National Forest land with my "Travel Plan Map". It's a map that shows all the roads open to public travel. If the road is not on the map, it's closed. Simple. A caveman could follow the rules.

A few years ago I noticed that the dirt and gravel roads sure seemed dusty for right before deer season. There is no logging anymore, and I know it can't be all bird watchers, or mushroom hunters. I know it's not weekend campers because they camp on the river or lakes for the most part.

Then I started seeing all these closed roads with 1/2" of dust on them. It takes a lot of traffic to get that dusty.

I always hunt the high elevation ridges above about 6000'. Everything looks pretty much untouched up there. I know why now. Marijuana doesn't grow well at those elevations and water is scarce.

I read this article a couple weeks ago that explains it all.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Multiple Illegal Marijuana Grows Cleaned Up on National Forest Land in Hayfork Burnt Ranch Area

Nine separate marijuana grow sites were cleaned up in the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forest recently, reports Mourad Gabriel from the Integral Ecology Research Center. Gabriel said, There was ?over 6 tons of trash removed and close to 6 miles of irrigation line removed from streams being diverted.?

The sites were located in the Trinity River and Hayfork Creek watersheds and were areas where a number of species needing protection were located, including Foothill yellow-legged frog, the Pacific fisher, and steelhead trout, as well as chinook and coho salmon.

According to Gabriel, ?[A]ll of these sites were either impacting critical habitat for federal and state listed species or directly impacting species of conservation concern due to their footprint.?
Since January 1, the IERC says it has been involved in cleanups of 83 different marijuana cultivation sites. Gabriel says, they have a goal of cleaning up 170 sites.

Gabriel wrote,
This success would not have been possible without the support from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) Cannabis Restoration grant awarded to IERC, and assistance from reclamation partners like the CDFW Law Enforcement Division, The Watershed Center, California Conservation Corps, Trinity County Resource Conservation District, Trinity County Sheriff?s Office, United States Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations, and the California Army National Guard.
In addition, all of these sites were either impacting critical habitat for federal and state listed species or directly impacting species of conservation concern due to their footprint.

To see the photos:

http://kymkemp.com/2018/12/17/multiple-illegal-marijuana-grows-cleaned-up-on-national-forest-land/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Now to my question. How does this much activity go on without Forest Service personnel no noticing? It takes a lot of traffic to install, plant, and maintain all these grows. If they patrolled once a month, Stevie Wonder could see the activity on all the closed roads. You can see the dust for miles.

My next question is, they just now found them after all the destruction and decided to spend a ton of money cleaning them up? How does that work? They found them after the harvest, why not before the harvest? Hummmm.

I'm starting to think the roads are closed to protect the growers? Either that or the Forest Service is the most incompetent people ever hired. That's certainly possible.

These are public lands that belong to me and you. Our land.

>Every year when I go deer
>hunting on National Forest land
>here in California, I get
>on National Forest land with
>my "Travel Plan Map". It's
>a map that shows all
>the roads open to public
>travel. If the road is
>not on the map, it's
>closed. Simple. A caveman could
>follow the rules.
>
>A few years ago I noticed
>that the dirt and gravel
>roads sure seemed dusty for
>right before deer season. There
>is no logging anymore, and
>I know it can't be
>all bird watchers, or mushroom
>hunters. I know it's not
>weekend campers because they camp
>on the river or lakes
>for the most part.
>
>Then I started seeing all these
>closed roads with 1/2" of
>dust on them. It takes
>a lot of traffic to
>get that dusty.
>
>I always hunt the high elevation
>ridges above about 6000'. Everything
>looks pretty much untouched up
>there. I know why now.
>Marijuana doesn't grow well at
>those elevations and water is
>scarce.
>
>I read this article a couple
>weeks ago that explains it
>all.
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>Multiple Illegal Marijuana Grows Cleaned Up
>on National Forest Land in
>Hayfork Burnt Ranch Area
>
>Nine separate marijuana grow sites were
>cleaned up in the Shasta-Trinity
>and Six Rivers National Forest
>recently, reports Mourad Gabriel from
>the Integral Ecology Research Center.
>Gabriel said, There was ?over
>6 tons of trash removed
>and close to 6 miles
>of irrigation line removed from
>streams being diverted.?
>
>The sites were located in the
>Trinity River and Hayfork Creek
>watersheds and were areas where
>a number of species needing
>protection were located, including Foothill
>yellow-legged frog, the Pacific fisher,
>and steelhead trout, as well
>as chinook and coho salmon.
>
>
>According to Gabriel, ?[A]ll of these
>sites were either impacting critical
>habitat for federal and state
>listed species or directly impacting
>species of conservation concern due
>to their footprint.?
>Since January 1, the IERC says
>it has been involved in
>cleanups of 83 different marijuana
>cultivation sites. Gabriel says, they
>have a goal of cleaning
>up 170 sites.
>
>Gabriel wrote,
>This success would not have been
>possible without the support from
>the California Department of Fish
>& Wildlife (CDFW) Cannabis Restoration
>grant awarded to IERC, and
>assistance from reclamation partners like
>the CDFW Law Enforcement Division,
>The Watershed Center, California Conservation
>Corps, Trinity County Resource Conservation
>District, Trinity County Sheriff?s Office,
>United States Forest Service Law
>Enforcement and Investigations, and the
>California Army National Guard.
>In addition, all of these sites
>were either impacting critical habitat
>for federal and state listed
>species or directly impacting species
>of conservation concern due to
>their footprint.
>
>To see the photos:
>
>http://kymkemp.com/2018/12/17/multiple-illegal-marijuana-grows-cleaned-up-on-national-forest-land/
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Now to my question. How does
>this much activity go on
>without Forest Service personnel no
>noticing? It takes a lot
>of traffic to install, plant,
>and maintain all these grows.
>If they patrolled once a
>month, Stevie Wonder could see
>the activity on all the
>closed roads. You can see
>the dust for miles.
>
>My next question is, they just
>now found them after all
>the destruction and decided to
>spend a ton of money
>cleaning them up? How does
>that work? They found them
>after the harvest, why not
>before the harvest? Hummmm.
>
>
>I'm starting to think the roads
>are closed to protect the
>growers? Either that or the
>Forest Service is the most
>incompetent people ever hired. That's
>certainly possible.
>
>These are public lands that belong
>to me and you. Our
>land.

But!

But!

But Eel!

Try Leaving Your Camp Trailer here in TARDville in the same Place for more than 14 Days on USFS Land!

It Will Be Noticed!

It Relates back to the Same Un-Answered Question I Have for NVB & Others! (No I'm Not Trying to Rile NVB on New Years Day!)










I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!

Bobcat, I'm thinking of buying a logging truck with a self loader and hauling a couple loads a week for extra income. They wouldn't know.

Make sure you put a couple Bumper Stickers on it Eel!

One that is a Picture of an AR!

And Another one that is a MJ Leaf!

None of them would dare Screw with you!







I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!

I don't want to give away any LE secrets, but they do often let crops go to harvest for good reason.

Here is an example. A couple of years ago the the Forest Service found some grows way up in some steep rocky crags in the Beaver canyon in the Fishlake National Forest.

They figured out the vehicle being used to tend the groves. They placed a tracking device on the vehicle. That led them to a tire shop in Las Vegas where they placed tracking devices on several more vehicles that lead them to a whole bunch more groves.

They let the whole operation go until harvest when they were able to bust up the whole operation including buyers and end product distribution.

you people got it all wrong....every one has to have a yellow legged tree frog running around in the woods...

Sounds like a theory just waiting for a conspiracy to me.

I once worked for the US Forest Service and so recognize that there are many capable and hard-working employees. But I have also seen a lot of waste. The problem in this area seems to be the "consent decree" imposed by the courts in the late seventies in order to ensure equal opportunity in hiring practices.

To illustrate, my hotshot crew prior to 1980 had no female crew members. Soon after, we received three. One had the right temperament and stamina, but eventually succumbed to bad feet. In fairness, a lot of men washed out, too. The other two were completely unsuited to the work. On one incident I carried the gear belonging to one of the women while two other guys hauled her up the mountainside in the face of an advancing fire. Without help, she would have been burned over. My job for the remainder of the summer when not dispatched to fire was to hike her through the woods to get her in shape. She lasted one summer on the crew and was then hired as a permanent employee on an engine somewhere. Meanwhile, several of the men who had successfully served for years remained on seasonal status, and most of these eventually turned to other careers because they could not receive permanent jobs.

A recently retired friend told me he had witnessed the failed effort to replant a burn on the PNF. Tens of thousands of trees and hundreds of man-hours wasted because the administrator chose to plant in June rather than April, when soil moister levels were high. Now that the money earmarked for this purpose is spent, it will probably never receive the attention that it deserves. And why did this happen? Because the folks who were supposed to replant chose to attend a training during those months that they should have been planting-to learn how to plant correctly, I suppose.

The Forest Service accelerated the careers of a great number of people on the basis of gender, and so now has personnel at the top who are unfit to train and monitor those they oversee. As a result, more and more work is sold to private contractors with the result that the Service remains little more than a bunch of paper-pushers charged with monitoring the work of private crews but without the expertise necessary to do so.

Lawmakers in Cali want to help alm the illegals, shut down lead bullets, etc, etc but they can't police the grow areas ?
In California it's even illegal for veterinarians to declaw cats.
What a crazy state, but it it sure is beautiful !

Castnshoot, I suppose there may be some of that with LE, but to let that many pass. I hope you're right. By the time they suck the stream dry it's a little late though.

bullskin, when I worked in the woods we were given a choice in the winter. We could get laid off and draw unemployment or work planting trees. I opted to plant trees. The wetter the better for tree survival, as long as it wasn't froze.

I have to agree with Bullskin about the forest service being forced to hire people unsuited for employment.

I had a good friend that put in about 30 years with the forest service and started as a smoke jumper and worked his way up the ranks. He was darn good spotting trails leading into marijuana fields while doing his daily patrol. We knocked off many fields due to his expertise of spotting things that was abnormal.

He tipped me off to a field of about 80 plants and I would go in to the field during late night and was able to figure out the grower was coming in every 3 days to water the field.

We planned a surprise for the grower on a upcoming water day and my friend with the forest service told me that he wanted this guy caught red handled as he suspected it was one of the forest service seasonal workers that was a complete screw off, but was hired due to minority status. He related that the metal stakes propping up the plants were taken from the forest service maintance yard and that was why he suspected the seasonal employee being the grower.

My partner and I went in on the suspected water day with both of our K-9s as we knew the grower would run and we wanted to see a little tug of war between the dogs as they grabbed both arms. The grower was coming in to water after he got off from work at 4:00 P.M. from the forest service yard about two miles from the grow site.

As we sit on the field, around 3:30 P.M., we heard the sirens of the forest service fire trucks heading North to a reported fire. Yeah that damn seasonal worker was on the fire truck and did not water that day. We ripped the plants and my friend was able to fire the seasonal worker after another employee admitted he observed him taking the metal stakes from the yard which was a theft of federal property.

As a side note, most of the older forest service employees, including several supervisors, were big supporters of using control burns to manage the forest until policy changes happen higher up to curtail control burns.

RELH

Eel

it could be someone's pockets are getting lined with money. One word Greed and I believe that someone is getting paid off to NOT see what is going on.

I have too been up there hunting and have ran into several grows. My buddies up there keep me in good health by telling me to stay away from certain areas as the people growing there are bad people and shoot first and ask questions later.

It won't stop because of the money involved.

MM

RELH, too bad you had to retire, we could use you up here.

If it was legal logging with all the permits, the environmental groups would be there chained to the gates and filing law suits and 60 Minutes would do a show about it. They are nowhere to be found with marijuana destruction and poaching.

I guess America loves marijuana as much as we do illegal immigration. A lot of lip service but not much action.

"If it was legal logging with all the permits, the environmental groups would be there chained to the gates and filing law suits and 60 Minutes would do a show about it."

Good Point, Eel. Ain't that the truth?

>
>I have too been up there
>hunting and have ran into
>several grows. My buddies up
>there keep me in good
>health by telling me to
>stay away from certain areas
>as the people growing there
>are bad people and shoot
>first and ask questions later

Deerhunter, what does LE do or say when you show them the photos and locations of all these grows you and your buddies are finding?

Have you heard of some people getting shot on Forrest land by a grower?

That is some scary stuff right there.

>Eel
>
>it could be someone's pockets are
>getting lined with money. One
>word Greed and I believe
>that someone is getting paid
>off to NOT see what
>is going on.
>


There it is

A few years ago I was spring bear hunting in the same drainage I had been hunting for the last 15 years. I was watching bears come into the bait then they would get nervous and run off, the wind was in my favor and I couldn't figure it out. This happened three nights in a row, when I said to myself, that's enough something is down in the creek scaring those bears. It was just starting to get dark and I got down to the creek bed and slowly crept through the willows and found the first grow site, I slowly followed the creek down throug the canyon and there were many more gardens meticulous set up between the willows. I came to a small grove of trees with a lot of dead fall and in the middle of them was a big Camouflage dome tent. I got down and crawled into the trees and stood up right behind the tent. I was standing there holding my rifle and surveying the situation, it was very quite out and no one was around. I was just standing there when the tent door unzipped and a man jumped out of the tent, it scared the living hell out of me, but you should have seen the look on his face when he heard me say don't move I have a gun on you. To make along story short we had words, I told him I would give one day to clean up the mess he created and Vacate the Cayon and Idaho all togeatheror I would have the Sheriff department all over him. I think what really had him worried I also told him three of my hunting buddies were sitting on the hill right above him with guns pointed at him,I slipped off into the dark . Thank God when I came back two days later every thing was cleaned up and gone. These growers can really destroy a watershed in just one season, and it might not be a very good outcome running into the wrong people out there.

>>Eel
>>
>>it could be someone's pockets are
>>getting lined with money. One
>>word Greed and I believe
>>that someone is getting paid
>>off to NOT see what
>>is going on.
>>
>
>
>There it is

Na!

That Couldn't Be!

Everything Our Government does is 110% Right!

Remember the LaVoy Deal?











I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!

Is there a reason why you did not turn him over to the law?

Were you thinking that LE was in partners with him like most of the posters on this thread seem to believe?

GREAT JOB HAWKBILL....


How to start an argument online:
1. Express an opinion
2. Wait

Just remember, if you leagalize it, all the illegal activity around it will go away. At least that's what they'll tell you. Right, Colorado and California?

Don?t get mixed up with these grow operations. You will be severely under-prepared and out-gunned, no matter what you're carrying while hunting. Best if you see one to get out of Dodge and report it to the authorities.