Law enforcement agents in California removed thousands of illegal marijuana plants from a 13-acre grow site hidden among one of the state's vast wilderness areas.
Rangers from the National Park Service joined Bureau of Land Management agents recently removed more than 2,300 marijuana plants and 2,000 pounds of trash and infrastructure from Sequoia National Park, according to an Aug. 21 press release. Investigators also uncovered a semi-automatic pistol and a gallon of a toxic banned insecticide, Methamidophos, during the operation.
The National Park Service said rangers had detected and raided this cultivation site in 2024, but were unable to rehabilitate the site until mid-August of this year due to the presence of hazardous chemicals.
More: Inflation? Not in the cannabis market. Here's why weed is so cheap.
No arrests have been made, officials said, and an investigation into the illegal grow is ongoing.
Rangers used hand labor and helicopter sling-load operations to remove the debris. The environmental damage from the site was extensive, the park service said. Investigators found creek water was diverted, and growers created large pits for irrigation. They also found evidence of poaching, hillsides that were terraced for planting and two miles of illegal trails cut through the wilderness area.
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Where is Sequoia National Park?
Sequoia National Park in California's Sierra Nevada mountains is the nation's second-oldest national park. It includes both Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous U.S., thousands of acres of dense sequoia forest and General Sherman − the largest tree on earth by volume.
Over 1.3 million people visited Sequoia National Park in 2024, according to National Park Service data.
Illegal grows can wreak havoc on wilderness
Authorities have found multiple illegal marijuna grow sites in Sequoia National Park over the last few years. For almost two decades, well-organized drug-trafficking organizations have been operating large-scale cultivation operations in and around Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the National Park service said in its Aug. 21 press release. Nearly 300,000 cannabis plants worth almost $850 million have been eradicated from the two parks over the last 20 years, officials said. The two national parks put together encompass an area nearly the size of Rhode Island.
Illegal marijuana grows in national parks pose a dual threat: environmental degradation and public safety. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, a single marijuana plant consumes six to eight gallons of water per day, diverting critical resources from native wildlife and vegetation. Runoff from these sites often contains toxic pesticides, contaminating water used for drinking, bathing and irrigation.
According to a 2023 USA TODAY investigation, cartel-backed marijuana grows have proliferated across Northern California’s Emerald Triangle, which includes Trinity, Mendocino and Humboldt counties, despite the state’s legalization of recreational cannabis in 2016.
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and on X @KathrynPlmr.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thousands of illegal marijuana plants found in Sequoia National Park
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