Narcotics agents destroyed more than 24,721 marijuana plants found Monday in a series of clandestine gardens off Ida Clayton Road, Sonoma County sheriff's officials said.
They were located on the rugged northwest slope of Mount St.Helena, an area increasingly popular for marijuana cultivation, said Sgt. Chris Bertoli, who runs the sheriff's narcotics unit.
"This are has been progressively worse over the last three years because of the isolation of the road and the lack of population," Bertoli said.
Residents in the rural area north of Highway 128 have called authorities many times to report suspicious vehicles parked along the road, Bertoli said.
Deputies began pulling over drivers suspected of bringing supplies to people in the brush. None were arrested in connection with Monday's raids, but the stops gave agents clues to gardens in the area, Bertoli said.
A sheriff's helicopter crew canvassed the area and spotted multiple marijuana gardens, he said. County and federal narcotics agents were dropped into the rugged area early Monday.
As agents destroyed the plants, an agent came across a suspected grower near one of the gardens, Bertoli said. The man fled on foot and disappeared in the woods.
The plants could have been sold for as much as $48 million if they had matured and produced about one pound of the drug each, Bertoli said. A pound of processed marijuana sells for about $2,000, he said.
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