Watch Out for Pot Gardens on Public Land

It's harvest season and people are bringing in the crops. That also includes marijuana being grown on public lands. A recent press release from the Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) speaks to this issue, and graphically highlights the potential danger it poses to those who venture into Nevada's outback. According to the BLM, three BLM biologists working on a stream survey on the North Fork of the Little Humboldt River were temporarily held at gunpoint by three suspects after stumbling on a marijuana garden. After being released, they hid away from their vehilces until dark, then started hiking along a gravel road toward Paradise, about 15 miles away. (Paradise is north of Winnemucca, in Humboldt County.) A BLM search party picked them up that night. It is believed that a Mexican drug cartel is behind the garden.

Early the next morning, members of several law enforcement agencies secured the area. About 150 pounds of processed pot was confiscated and 800 mature plants were rounded up to be destroyed. Estimated value of the crop is $5 million. Evidence at the scene indicated that five or six individuals had been camped there, but they had disappeared by the time police arrived. According to the release, this is the third case involving what are believed to be Mexican drug cartel pot gardens on BLM-managed public land in Nevada this season. The other two were in southern Nevada and did not involve direct encounters with the growers.

When I lived in northern California, pot farming on public land (mostly in National Forests over there) was also a serious concern. Depending on where you went, it was really important to be alert and pay attention to your surroundings. The same is true here in Nevada. If you come across marijuana plants on public land, get out of there fast and call the cops. Whether you agree with the marijuana laws or not, the people doing the growing are dangerous criminals dealing with a very valuable crop and they're not going to ask you about your political views on the drug laws.

For more information, contact JoLynn Worley at (775) 861-6515, or Heather Emmons at (775) 861-6594.