Mendocino County officials say they're determined to take back public lands from armed marijuana growers, with or without declaring a state of emergency requested by concerned citizens earlier this week.
"I've had it. We're going to get the illegal growers out of the national forest," said Mendocino County Supervisor John Pinches.
Sheriff Tom Allman said he's already working on a plan for a large-scale attack on the illegal growers in the Mendocino National Forest.
Armed pot growers are keeping hikers, hunters, fishermen, equestrians and cattle ranchers from utilizing land that belongs to the public, county residents said.
People who live near and use the forest land are demanding that something be done. On Tuesday, they called on supervisors to declare a state of emergency and bring in the National Guard to help clear the forest of dangerous intruders.
"It's an armed invasion of American soil," said Ann Marie Bauer, a fifth generation rancher in Round Valley.
Suspected pot growers have fired over her head to scare her away while she was moving cattle on forest land the family leases. She said she is afraid to retrieve a group of cattle that is grazing down a trail where she knows marijuana has been growing.
The gun-toting invaders, many of them Mexican nationals, are cultivating massive amounts of marijuana on public land for Mexican cartels, law authorities contend.
About 75 percent of the marijuana seized in 2010 by the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting is grown on public lands, up from about 40 percent in 2001, when the overall take was just 313,776 plants statewide. Last year, the state total was 4.4 million plants.
Both Pinches and Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman aren't so sure declaring a national disaster is the way to attack the problem, but supervisors have asked staff to investigate the process. A governor's spokesman said he has never heard of an emergency being declared over pot.
The National Guard already assists with marijuana eradication efforts.
Its troops were among more than 400 law and military officials from 21 agencies participating in a multi-county attack on illegal pot growers in the Central Valley. "Operation Trident," which concluded last week, resulted in the arrests of almost 100 people and the seizure of more than 400,000 plants in Fresno, Madera and Tulare counties.
Several similar operations have been conducted in the last several years, said Michelle Gregory, a spokeswoman for the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting.
The operations typically are triggered by sheriffs departments asking for assistance, she said.
Allman said he's working on a less intense but similar plan that will include state and federal officials and the sheriffs of at least four other counties that contain portions of the 913,306-acre Mendocino National Forest. The forest stretches through six counties: Mendocino, Lake, Trinity, Tehama, Glenn and Colusa.
"I fully intend next year to have the largest force the national forest has ever seen," Allman said Friday.
The actual size and scope of the operation will depend on cooperation between agencies and funding, he added.
Humboldt County Sheriff Gary Philip also is interested in joining forces with Mendocino County.
Twenty years ago, such talk would have brought turmoil among residents of pot rich Northern California.
In 1991, Humboldt County residents rose up against "Operation Green Sweep," a police and military invasion aimed at eradicating illegal pot gardens. Mendocino County law authorities were critical of the operation at the time.
But marijuana growing has changed dramatically since then.
It's shifted from relatively small operations grown by local individuals on private land to humongous gardens tended primarily by Mexican nationals on public land, law officials say. Mexican cartels are suspected of being the masterminds.
In the last five years, marijuana production on public lands has exploded, turning the forest into a dangerous place, Allman said. In the last few weeks, law officials in Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Santa Clara counties have fatally shot three suspects who threatened them with weapons.
Many other people are shunning public lands during the growing season, normally from spring through fall.
After 30 years of freely driving backwoods forest roads, Round Valley teacher Virginia Spivey said she no longer feels safe. Things changed after she came across a blockaded bathroom with trucks parked in back.
Covelo rancher Randall Britton doesn't want his wife and child driving at night to the remote ranch where he works.
Supervisor Pinches said he no longer takes his grandson to a popular fishing hole he has frequented since childhood.
Illegal marijuana cultivators also are causing deforestation, killing wildlife and harming their habitat. They divert streams, dump potent chemicals that are banned in this country and leave behind tons of trash, U.S. Forest officials said.
Lake County Sheriff Rod Mitchell said the problems associated with large marijuana gardens are vast, and he welcomes a collaborative effort.
"This is a big deal," Mitchell said. "These people are occupying these forests."
You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.
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