CLMP REPORTS 2005

9/1/05

CLMP phone lines were busy on Tuesday, August 30 with a dozen reports of activity in the Spy Rock/Iron Peak area of Mendocino. At least 20 and as many as 40 officers were spotted in several vehicles, some of them stopping to don DEA uniforms near Spyrock School, others wearing "ninja gear" and helmets. More than one helicopter was reported, and one resident said helicopters could be heard for 11 hours.

KMUD news reported the operation was linked with an investigation in Fresno and with HIDTA, the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program that brings together local, state and federal officials to investigate drug crimes.

HIDTA was created in 1990 at a yearly cost of $25 million. Across the country, there are 355 HIDTA task forces, 53 intelligence centers and more than 12,000 officers assigned to HIDTA investigations. Last March, in a major restructuring of the Office of Drug Control Policy budget that included slashing school drug education programs, HIDTA lost 55 percent of its 2004/05 budget of $227 million. John Walters, head of the White House Office of Drug Control said in budget documents that the HIDTA program is "no longer well focused and comes at an enormous cost. . . . State and local drug enforcement efforts have not been able to show a link with significant reduction in drug trafficking." The Office of Management and Budget also said the program has not been able to "demonstrate results." Shortly afterwards the DEA office announced it would add several staff members to its in Redding office to increase federal prosecutions of methamphetamine in an eight-county Northern California region.

Increased federal spending on marijuana law enforcement has not been associated with a reduction in marijuana use, according to a report released August 23 by the Washington-DC based Justice Policy Institute (JPI). The United States budget for drug control has increased over 300 times in the last 35 years, from $65 million to $19 billion. Reported marijuana usage rose 22 percent during the 1990s, despite a 127 percent increase in marijuana arrests, JPI researchers found. In 2003, an estimated 755,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana violations � the highest total ever recorded in a single year. Throughout the past 20 years, marijuana usage has remained relatively stable.

A previous report published by the NORML Foundation in March concluded that rising marijuana arrest rates have not been associated with a reduction in marijuana use, reduced marijuana availability, a reduction in the number of new marijuana users, reduced treatment admissions, reduced emergency room mentions of marijuana, any reduction in marijuana potency, or any increases in the price of marijuana. Most recently, an economic report released by the Washington, DC think-tank Taxpayers for Common Sense estimated that the federal government annually spends more than $3.6 billion dollars on anti-marijuana related activities, "yet little evidence indicates this spending accomplishes the government's stated goal of reducing marijuana use." Previous economic reports analyzing the cost of marijuana arrest expenditures at the state and local level have estimated these costs to be between $5 and $7 billion per year.

Last year a record 621,315 marijuana plants worth an estimated $2.5 billion were seized statewide by agencies working under the Department of Justice's leading eradication effort, called California Campaign Against Illegal Marijuana Planting (CAMP). Half of that amount was grown on public property, including national forests, parks and rural areas. This year's marijuana seizures already surpass last year's, with 706,241 plants seized by Aug. 22. CAMP numbers don't include amounts of marijuana seized by local law enforcement agencies who don't request the agency's help.

Tulare County, which had the most plants destroyed by CAMP last year, decided on Tuesday to set aside $5.5 million to form a special task force to fight marijuana growers. This year alone, Tulare County Sheriff's deputies say they have have found and destroyed over $500 million worth of marijuana. The county will use the money for new helicopter contracts and equipment. The task force will consist of 20 new personnel, including several sheriff's deputies and park rangers.

A single plantation on private land yielded 7,000-10,000 plants in Stanislaus County last week. Already this summer, Monterey and Ventura Counties have had busts that netted more than 8,000 plants, each on public land, and Napa County has netted 12,000 plants. Investigators have destroyed more than 78,000 plants in Cumberland County, Tennessee over the past few weeks and plants worth $250,000 were discovered in two days� time in one Central Ohio county.

In Humboldt county, ground crews were spotted off Alderpoint Road near the Wade Road subdivision and off Old Harris Road on August 30, and in the Mattole near the Petrolia bridge on August 31. A call to the Sheriff�s Special Forces office about these sightings was not returned at press time.

8/25/05

The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project received reports of a fixed-wing aircraft flying over Crooked Prairie/China Creek on August 19, and flying over Laytonville on August 22. A convoy was spotted in Salmon Creek on August 22.

The Humboldt County Drug Enforcement Unit was active on August 23 and 24 in the Sealey Creek area. KMUD reported that at least 750 marijuana plants were found and that a National Guard helicopter and two National Guard personnel were used in the operation. It was not associated with CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting), but Sgt. Wayne Hanson of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department said that CAMP would return to the area later this month.

On August 24 between 1-2 PM, a fixed-wing aircraft monitoring sudden oak death in the area flew over the Miller, Salmon and Sealey creek watersheds, according to California Oak Mortality Task Force member Yana Valachovic. Valachovic said the COMTF was seeking funding from the U.S. Forest Service for efforts to contain the spread of sudden oak death. In addition, the group accepts private donations, see www.suddendeath.org.

In the past year, 100,000 marijuana plants have been removed from California national parks, including 44,000 from Sequoia National Forest, most in large plantations of 10,000 plants or more. In addition, 500,000 plants were taken from Bureau of Land Management land. This year's federal drug-control strategy did not address marijuana cultivation on public land, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Sequoia's single special agent assigned to marijuana growing has asked for 10 law enforcement agents and helicopter support. Last year a Black Hawk helicopter unit was available in the area through U.S. Customs, but it has been reassigned to the Mexican border this year. The California Conservation Corps has begun rehabilitating pot-growing zones in parks, but the budget for such projects has been cut in half.

Humboldt County's Marijuana Suppression Program Grant was reduced by 22% or $74,756 this year, and as a result the Sergeant in the Drug Enforcement Unit is now paid from general county funds. The County's hiring freeze has left 340 positions vacant and for the fourth consecutive year no cost-of-living raises were given to county employees. Budget cuts have caused the elimination or drastic reduction of General Fund contributions to Substance Abuse Treatment, Youth Services Bureau, Veterans Service Organizations, Predatory Animal Control, and outside agencies that promote tourism and economic development in Humboldt County.

8/11/05

The Humboldt County Sheriff's department confirmed that CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) is currently conducting operations in Humboldt county and that officers were flying in a silver and purple helicopter. Helicopters were spotted carrying bundles of marijuana in the Pratt Mountain area in August 8 and in Windy Gap on August 9. On August 10, a caller reported hearing a helicopter in Larrabee Valley and the next day, a large ground crew was seen in that area.

On August 9, complaints were received about a low-flying dark-colored helicopter in the Larrabe Butte area, and in Wool Mountain near Kettenpom. A caller to CLMP said a military-style dark olive helicopter was circling at 300 feet and had a machine gun mounted on its front. A similar helicopter was seen August 4 in the Crooked Prairie/ China Creek area. A blue and white helicopter was seen circling over Dean Creek on August 9 and on August 11, and a gray helicopter was seen flying low in Arcata over the 101.

The California Department of Forestry was flying aircraft in Whitethorn, Meyer's Flat, Honeydew and Alderpoint on August 8. Their helicopters are white with an orange stripe. The Department of Fish and Game in Eureka said they do not fly helicopters.

A white plane with a red stripe is conducting yearly Industry Fire Patrol flights in Humboldt and Del Norte counties under a contract with timber companies in conjunction with CDF. Pilots are instructed to maintain 1000' over inhabited areas and 500' over uninhabited areas except in takeoff/landing modes or to investigate fire incidents.

8/4/05

An unidentified black and white or blue and silver helicopter was seen over Rancho Sequoia and Alderpoint on July 25 and 26. An unidentified olive or black helicopter was seen on the same days over Palo Verde, landing at the Con camp, and flying low over Salmon Creek, in Sealey Creek, in Harris Ranch, and in the Matole Canyon.

Sergeant Wayne Hansen of the Humboldt County Sheriffs Department said he was flying only a silver-colored helicopter funded by CAMP but without CAMP personnel onboard earlier in the week. Hansen said he continues to uphold the Board of Supervisors' ordinance regarding the allowance of medical marijuana gardens and the consent decree requiring aircraft stay 500 feet above residences.

Michael Johnson of the CAMP office in Sacramento told CLMP that CAMP was not operating in Humboldt county at this time, and that CAMP pilots are told to stay 500' above ground in their daily briefings.

Lloyd Coker of PG&E in Santa Rosa said no PG&E helicopters have flown in Humboldt since May, and that except in an emergency, the company informs local press in advance of their intended flights and marks aircraft with a PG&E logo. The local CHP office was unaware of CHP aircraft flying on the days in question.

Rick Meyer of the DEA office in San Francisco told CLMP 'DEA does not fly' but that the National Guard does. Other law enforcement agencies can request National Guard aircraft as needed. A call to the Joint Forces Headquarters of the California National Guard was unanswered at press time.

The U.S. EPA is planning to conduct aerial studies of water temperatures in the Eel River sometime in early August. They will be in a Bell Jet Ranger with a white bottom and a navy top, tail #N6388 and will fly at approximately 1800 ft. along the main stem of the Eel from Dos Rios, through Spy Rock and Alderpoint to the ocean.

(Later reports said this helicopter would be in operation on 8/11 or 8/12)

7/21/05

The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project received complaints of "rampant" CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) ground crews in the Covolo area on Sunday July 17; Michael Johnson of CAMP told KMUD news that CAMP crews were operating in Mendocino at the request of the Sheriff's department.

On Tuesday, July 19, CLMP received the following complaints of low-flying helicopters: under 500 ft. in Salmon Creek over a two-hour period; 200-300 ft. in Briceland; and under 200 feet in Seely Creek. On July 21 a woman in Seely Creek complained that a low-flying silver-colored helicopter invaded her privacy.

On July 13, a Sacramento Sheriff's Department EC120 American Eurocopter crashed on its way to a burglary investigation, rolled into a ravine and started a grass fire near Lake Natoma, killing two deputies and critically wounding another. National Transportation Safety Board officials said a preliminary investigation has found that the helicopter engine's internal turbine blades disintegrated in flight. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said it would ground their two other Eurocopter helicopters indefinitely.

In August 2002, a California National Guard Helicopter on a reconnaissance flight for the San Diego County Narcotics Task Force started the largest fire in California that year -- the 54,000-acre Pines fire -- when it nipped a power line, causing the pole to sway and snap another line.