Record marijuana grow pulled up by the roots in Siskiyou County

SEIAD CREEK, Calif. -- Police are yanking out more than 200,000 marijuana plants from the Low Gap area just a few miles south of the Oregon state line in Siskiyou County's largest-ever bust and nearly a new record for the state.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said this morning that it has seized 204,933 pot plants from 13 grow sites on national forestland in the Seiad Creek/Low Gap area of Siskiyou County north the small town of Seiad Valley off of Highway 96 northwest of Yreka.

This is the largest single seizure in Siskiyou County history and is one of the largest in state history, the sheriff's office reports.

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The area is extremely inaccessible with steep terrain and few roads. Helicopters were used to drop agents in to destroy the plants, which were high-quality plants approaching maturity. The plants were mixed in forest undergrowth and difficult to see from the air, the sheriff's office reported.

The investigation is ongoing and the sheriff’s office anticipates arrests in the near future, although such remote grow operations often result in few or no arrests because those who tend them -- often illegal immigrants from Mexico -- escape before agents arrive to remove the plants.

Such grow operations are usually watered with an elaborate drip irrigation system tapping into local streams.

Agencies participating in the eradication efforts include the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office and the Sheriff’s Response Team (SRT) and Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Eradication Team; Siskiyou County-wide Interagency Narcotic Task Force; U. S. Forest Service law enforcement; CAL-FIRE; Jackson County Sheriff’s Department Swat and Eradication Teams; California Department of Fish and Game; California Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement Sacramento and Redding Offices; Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); California Highway Patrol; Klamath River Volunteer Fire Department; and Brim Aviation from Ashland, Oregon.