UKIAH — Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman introduced the plan for a six-county, multi-agency operation to eliminate marijuana growth in the Mendocino National Forest publicly for the first time Thursday during a two-day symposium in Ukiah.
The operation, which will be called “Operation Full Court Press,” will coordinate the efforts of the six affected counties (Lake, Mendocino, Trinity, Tehama, Colusa and Glenn) with state and federal agencies to reclaim the public lands, Allman said.
“We”re not going into this without partners,” Allman said Thursday to more than 50 symposium guests at the Hampton Inn Ukiah. “This program is going to be highly successful.”
The operation would include coordinated intelligence gathering, organized eradication and reclamation of the federal lands from illegal growers of marijuana, Allman said.
Lake County Sheriff-elect Frank Rivero, who was one of two Lake County elected officials to attend both days of the symposium, said he supported Allman”s operation concept.
“We need to collaborate with all the counties that are being impacted by these grows in the national forest,” Rivero said Thursday.
Full Court Press represents more than the implied basketball analogy, Allman said, explaining that “full” represents the involvement of all stakeholders, “court” represents the focus on obtaining criminal convictions and “press” represents law enforcement using the news media to spread information.
The two-day meeting was called the 6-1-1 Marijuana Symposium, which Allman said stood for “six counties, one forest, one problem.”
Allman said one goal of the symposium was to gather forest stakeholders to discuss the operation. Attendees included local legislators, environmental groups and representatives of state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Allman and guest speakers addressed issues including federal support, prosecutions, statistics, financing and the environment during Thursday”s full-day session.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, whose district includes Lake and Mendocino counties, was the first speaker Thursday, appearing for 10 minutes from Washington, D.C. using Skype.
Thompson pledged his support for reclamation of public lands, saying he would “continue to work with all my colleagues on The Hill to make them understand how important this is” in order to help secure federal funding.
U.S. Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico, whose district includes the other four counties, sent a 90-second video because he was unavailable to appear Thursday.
Herger said federal law enforcement agencies need to focus on this “growing problem” and help “take back our public lands.”
Outgoing Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott spoke next, beginning discussions of the importance of prosecutions. Lintott said that her office had not prosecuted any people responsible for forest growing during her term.
DA-elect David Eyster also spoke, saying, “Prosecution needs to be hard-charging and aggressive.”
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, who represents the Northern District of California, which includes Lake County, said, “It”s been very eye-opening for me to understand the problems with respect to marijuana cultivation.”
Haag listed money laundering, organized crime connections, environmental harm and human trafficking as some of the additional crimes associated with illegal marijuana grows.
Haag also told law enforcement officials that though she understands the dangers associated with garden raids, “We need defendants.”
Ron Brooks, director of the Northern California region of High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), presented a threat assessment conducted for Mendocino National Forest.
Brooks said that Lake and Mendocino counties accounted for more than two-thirds of the 1.56 million marijuana plants seized on public lands in the six counties during 2009.
The marijuana plants grown in the forest have become bigger and more potent in recent years, Brooks said. “This is not the marijuana people may have experienced in the ”60s or ”70s or even the ”80s,” he said.
Brooks also said that the illegal grows have forced citizens away from experiencing the national forest because it has become “too dangerous in many cases to set foot on these lands.”
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Sims told guests about Operation Trident, a three-county, multi-agency operation that reclaimed 12,900 square feet of public land in the Sierra Nevada during the summer.
Operation Trident consisted of three successive phases, Mims said: intensive investigation, eradication highlighted by a three-week surge and environmental cleanup.
“You can pull out as many plants as you want,” Mims said. “Until people are held accountable, that”s what you”re going to keep doing.”
Mims offered all findings and intelligence from Operation Trident to Allman, who said Full Court Press would be somewhat modeled after Fresno County”s program.
“It”s certainly not going to be a one-year operation,” Allman said of Full Court Press, which he said he hopes to begin implementing during 2011.
Allman said the estimated budget for the project, which does not include costs of restoration or contingencies, is set at $1.5 million.
Representatives from six federal agencies discussed funding opportunities with symposium guests after lunch, including individuals from the Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Marijuana Initiative (NMI) and the National Guard, who said they could provide funding or equipment and manpower.
Tommy LaNier, director of NMI within HIDTA, said several funding opportunities exist within his department though federal budgetary freezes and adjustments could affect amounts.
LaNier said he thinks grows like those in the Mendocino National Forest are funded by Mexican drug cartels though his department still lacks strong evidence connecting the California grows to the cartels.
Ellen Drell, board member of the Willits Environmental Center, gave a presentation about the environmental impact the grows have on the forest.
“The real victim is this place,” Drell said referring to the forest. “And the crime is the culminating assaults on this place.”
Drell discussed the impacts on the wildlife, specifically the summer steelhead fish, which she said faces significant danger if current practices continue, adding “a real urgency to our stopping the influx of growers.”
Thursday”s session ended around 2:30 p.m. and some attendees gathered at Branches restaurant for a dinner reception at 6 p.m.
District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing, whose district includes the portions of the forest in Lake County, also attended both days of the event. “The most strategic part of this is that you”re not allowed to have free land,” she said Thursday.
Rushing attended the public meeting Friday morning, which she described as a “worthwhile and productive” discussion about non-law enforcement issues associated with the forest.
Topics included timber sales, avoiding catastrophic fires, watershed safety and road closures, Rushing said.
Rivero attended the two-hour confidential meeting of law enforcement officers held Friday morning during which operation proposals were discussed.
Rivero said he came out of the meeting feeling “good” about the operation concept. “I think there”s a good working model here with Trident.”
The strategic and funding aspects of the plan were not finalized Friday, according to Rivero, and Lake County officials will participate throughout the planning process. “This is a partnership, and we will have a stake in this; we will have a say,” he said.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
