CAMP
IN HUMBOLDT
CLMP, 8/24/06
Interviews with Jack Nelson,
CAMP Region One commander and Sgt. Wayne Hansen of the Humboldt county sheriff's
department aired on August 23 on KMUD radio, whose news director Estelle Fennell
went along on a CAMP raid on August 22.
Nelson said CAMP expanded
this year, with five full teams statewide, including arial reconnaissance for
each. Nelson said CAMP is trying to spread its resources to all California
counties, emphasizing public lands. He said Region One has seen no encounters with
armed suspects, and that their methods limit this possibility. (Previously CAMP
officials have said their technique is to fly the area before moving in, giving
those who tend the gardens a chance to escape.)
On August 22, CAMP eradicated
981 plants on Barnam Timber Company property near the Humboldt/Mendocino county
line that were spotted by local crews a week before CAMP got here. On August
21 the team was in Salmon Creek and Woods Ranch; on August 23 an unconfirmed
report said they were in Shively.
Sgt. Hansen said in five
days' time CAMP had uprooted 21,000 plants in Humboldt county on both public
and private lands, including grows near Phillipsville, in the Maple Creek
area, and in Willow Creek, which Hansen called a "Hispanic" grow.
Hansen said one telltale sign that grows are Hispanic in origin is finding
5-10 plants/hole (for "quantity not quality").
On August 23, a ground crew
was assisted by Nelson and Hansen in a helicopter, using GPS. Nelson said
finding some of the grows and getting to them would be impossible without
GPS technology. As it was, crews had to hike rugged terrain to get to the
site. Others were dropped in by helicopter.
Nelson said he suspects growers
are accessing detailed maps of potential growing areas and scouting for water
sources, terrain, elevation, and road access, especially along the I-5 and
101 corridors. Agencies such as Fish and Game are getting involved in finding
growers due to environmental impacts such as changing creek and stream flow,
cutting or banding trees, terracing hillsides, and using "tons"
of fertilizer.
In
answer to a question from Fennell, Hansen said that the Coast Guard had contacted
sheriffs' departments in Humboldt, Shasta, Mendocino and Trinity counties
offering to help fly them over public lands looking for drug trafficking organizations,
which he said are linked to terrorism.
Hansen said when he flies
over Garberville, 75% of the houses look like they have small gardens, which
he assumes might be medical and leaves alone. He said he is looking for greedy
growers who are making marijuana farming their life's work, mainly people
who don't live in the area but rather camp among their plants.
Hansen claimed his department
has had fewer complaints of overflights and hasn't received any complaints
about medical marijuana gardens being eradicated. Fennell said an anonymous
caller to KMUD said his medical marijuana garden had been destroyed on Monday
in Woods Ranch, where a total of 4300 plants were taken. CAMP and sheriff
crews habitually scour the area surrounding large grows looking for satellite
gardens. Only two plants inside a fence were preserved for the patient who
called, he said.
Humboldt County's medical
marijuana ordinance, passed unanimously by the board of supervisors on July
13, 2004 states in part:
"The Humboldt County
Board of Supervisors desires that law enforcement personnel not arrest and
leave unmolested qualified patients, persons holding a valid identification
card, the designated primary caregiver, and any compliant gardens and supplies
of medical marijuana in the amounts set forth..." (up to three pounds
of dried cannabis and 100 square feet of garden canopy, or more if a doctor
recommends it).
The ordinance continues,
"The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors further desires that law enforcement
personnel compensate person(s) qualified under this ordinance for any amount
of medical marijuana which is seized, and then subsequently ordered returned
by a court of jurisdiction."
According to
CAMP, it has seized more than 946,000 plants as of August 17th. Last
year CAMP claims to have seized a record-setting 1,134,692 plants (see http://www.ag.ca.gov/bne/historychart.htm)
Plants were seized in 237 raids in 31 counties, resulting in 42 arrests
and 76 weapons seized. Seizures on public lands accounted for 73% of the total
(see http://www.ag.ca.gov/bne/seizureschart.htm)
Shasta County
had 214,319 plants seized in 2005, making it the top county for seizures,
followed by 133,441 in Lake County. Mendocino county ranked 5th
with 76,490 plants, and Humboldt wasn't even in the top 10 (see county-by-county
chart at http://www.ag.ca.gov/bne/tenchart.htm).