12-16-2011, 12:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-16-2011, 12:08 PM by tvguy. Edited 1 time in total.)
Maybe it's just me but this sounds like quite a bit of exaggeration
A "threat to other forest users"
Yes you could trip over a Ramen noodle container and fall on a plastic Pepsi bottle
scattered fertilizer and pesticides and contaminated creeks that spill into fish-bearing streams
How many of these site with his stack of pictures did this actually occur? How many fertilizer and pesticides are going in to our water ways everyday from orchards or farming, or fecal matter from cattle?
"Who knows what's in these particular fertilizers?
Let me guess. Nitrogen, potassium and pot ash? who knows what's in them? how about you pick up one of the bags and read the ingredients, eh Mike?
An intense crackdown on Mexican drug cartel growing operations in Southern Oregon's hills appears to have pushed the cartels elsewhere, but they have left behind a legacy of environmental damage — and, potentially, a threat to other forest users.
Today: Cartel marijuana growing sites have left a legacy of environmental damage in Southern Oregon's forests.
Several of the 31 marijuana-growing sites busted on public lands in 2010 continue to be environmental hazards marked by hills of trash, scattered fertilizer and pesticides and contaminated creeks that spill into fish-bearing streams.
"These grow sites are a disaster for the public," Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said. "You can't believe what you see when you get into one."
Winters produces a thick stack of photographs taken at the gardens and spreads them out on a table.
They show filthy campsites strewn with Pepsi bottles, car batteries and countless packets of Ramen noodles.
One photo, taken near Ramsey Creek in Josephine County, shows a pile of trash that had tumbled over into the water. Junk can be seen floating downstream.
"This all flows down into our rivers," said sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Carlson.
The trash in many of the raided gardens remains to this day; no one has gone in to clean up the sites.
Winters said 2010 was such a busy year for marijuana raids that the Southern Oregon Multi-Agency Marijuana Eradication and Reclamation team, or SOMMER — which covers Jackson, Josephine, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Klamath and Lake counties — didn't have time to haul out the garbage along with the plants.
"We were going from one grow to another," Winters said. "And there's so much trash at some of these sites that it would take a large team of guys days to haul it out. In some respects, the marijuana is easier to remove than the garbage."
The creeks are further damaged by the fertilizer haphazardly dumped around the gardens to spur growth. Some of the photos show pools and streams that have turned a unnatural shade of turquoise because of fertilizer contamination.
"Who knows what's in these particular fertilizers?" Carlson said. "And here it is entering our streams."
Winters said the campsites often come equipped with generators and propane burning stoves used to cook food. But they are most notable for the huge piles of garbage that accumulated when the camps were
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...sitesearch
A "threat to other forest users"
Yes you could trip over a Ramen noodle container and fall on a plastic Pepsi bottle
scattered fertilizer and pesticides and contaminated creeks that spill into fish-bearing streams
How many of these site with his stack of pictures did this actually occur? How many fertilizer and pesticides are going in to our water ways everyday from orchards or farming, or fecal matter from cattle?
"Who knows what's in these particular fertilizers?
Let me guess. Nitrogen, potassium and pot ash? who knows what's in them? how about you pick up one of the bags and read the ingredients, eh Mike?
An intense crackdown on Mexican drug cartel growing operations in Southern Oregon's hills appears to have pushed the cartels elsewhere, but they have left behind a legacy of environmental damage — and, potentially, a threat to other forest users.
Today: Cartel marijuana growing sites have left a legacy of environmental damage in Southern Oregon's forests.
Several of the 31 marijuana-growing sites busted on public lands in 2010 continue to be environmental hazards marked by hills of trash, scattered fertilizer and pesticides and contaminated creeks that spill into fish-bearing streams.
"These grow sites are a disaster for the public," Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said. "You can't believe what you see when you get into one."
Winters produces a thick stack of photographs taken at the gardens and spreads them out on a table.
They show filthy campsites strewn with Pepsi bottles, car batteries and countless packets of Ramen noodles.
One photo, taken near Ramsey Creek in Josephine County, shows a pile of trash that had tumbled over into the water. Junk can be seen floating downstream.
"This all flows down into our rivers," said sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Carlson.
The trash in many of the raided gardens remains to this day; no one has gone in to clean up the sites.
Winters said 2010 was such a busy year for marijuana raids that the Southern Oregon Multi-Agency Marijuana Eradication and Reclamation team, or SOMMER — which covers Jackson, Josephine, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Klamath and Lake counties — didn't have time to haul out the garbage along with the plants.
"We were going from one grow to another," Winters said. "And there's so much trash at some of these sites that it would take a large team of guys days to haul it out. In some respects, the marijuana is easier to remove than the garbage."
The creeks are further damaged by the fertilizer haphazardly dumped around the gardens to spur growth. Some of the photos show pools and streams that have turned a unnatural shade of turquoise because of fertilizer contamination.
"Who knows what's in these particular fertilizers?" Carlson said. "And here it is entering our streams."
Winters said the campsites often come equipped with generators and propane burning stoves used to cook food. But they are most notable for the huge piles of garbage that accumulated when the camps were
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...sitesearch