THOUSANDS OF POT PLANTS DESTROYED

Narcotics agents destroyed 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 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 the gardens, but the stops gave agents clues to gardens in the area, Bertoli said.

A sheriff's helicopter crew surveyed the area and spotted multiple marijuana gardens, he said. County and federal narcotics agents were dropped into the area early Monday.

As agents destroyed the plants, one agent came across a suspected grower near one of the gardens, Bertoli said. The man fled on foot and escaped into 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.

-- Julie Johnson