Forest, Wildlife, and Climate News

More ‘Climate Change” Ripoffs

Researchers study link between climate, wildfire

The Associated Press, Oregonian, September 01, 2010 [here]

Scientists from universities in Montana, Colorado and Idaho announced today the start of a 5-year, $3.85 million research project into how a changing climate will influence wildfires.

The project is being pursued in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and researchers in Australia and New Zealand. The goal is to identify how human activities and climate change drive fires.

“One thing is clear: The frequency and severity of fires have increased around and world and this is considered to be one of the signs of global climate change,” Montana State University professor Cathy Whitlock, the lead investigator for the project, said in a statement. … [more]

Note: The temperature data for 1983-2009 from the National Climatic Data Center [here] for the West North Central Region (Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming).

Note that there has been no significant warming for the last 20 years. If there has been no warming, how can warming be the cause of anything????

Giving tax money to hoaxers is a phenomenal waste of resources.

McClintock blasts U.S. Forest Service for “abusive,” “predatory” fees

Special to The Grass Valley Union, August, 26 2010 [here]

Congressman Tom McClintock made the following statement to the Regional U.S. Forest Service Management Roundtable hosted by Congressman Wally Herger in Sacramento on Wednesday, August 25:

There are four general subjects that my constituents have brought to my attention that I feel are important to raise in this forum.

First, some of the most disturbing stories I have heard locally involve the abuse of cost recovery fees by the Forest Service. This has been a source of great frustration and evinces an attitude within the Service that I believe requires immediate correction.

For example, the California Endurance Riders Association had been using the El Dorado National Forest for many years. This time, when they sought a simple 5-year 10-event permit to continue doing exactly what they have been doing without incident for decades, the Forest Service demanded $11,000 in fees.

They paid these fees, but the El Dorado National Forest management nevertheless pulled the approved permit and halted the process on utterly specious grounds. It then demanded an additional $17,000 fee, causing the Endurance Riders Association to cancel what had been a long-term civic tradition that had been a boon to the local economy. In 2010 this outrage was repeated after the group spent $5,800 for the “Fool’s Gold Endurance Run” that had been an ongoing event for more than 40 years. …

Finally – and most importantly, since this affects the safety of entire communities in my district – I remain concerned over the demonstrated disinterest that the Forest Service has recently demonstrated in supporting sustainable timber harvests. The expensive and labor-intensive process of twig removal cannot achieve fuel reductions that reduce the risk and intensity of forest fires. We must restore responsible and sustainable thinning of over populated forests called for in the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Restoration Act of 1998, and which the U.S. Forest Service is now thwarting in our region.

For generations, the U.S. Forest Service maintained a balanced approach to the management of our forests that assured both healthy forests and a healthy economy. Now, it seems to be following a very different policy of exclusion, expulsion and benign neglect of our forests. … [more]

Note: There’s nothing benign about megafires, Tom. Perhaps less talk, more action on your part might be useful in in saving America’s forests.

Thousands of off-road enthusiasts ride to the Capitol

By Cathy McKitrick, The Salt Lake Tribune, August 28, 2010 [here]

More than 5,200 off-road enthusiasts motored up State Street on Saturday. Their message: “Take Back Utah” — keep the state’s lands open for motorized travel and for use of its natural resources.

The parade ended with a rally at the state Capitol where Governor Gary Herbert and others called for renewed vigor in the fight for access to wilderness lands. …

Almost two-thirds of the land in Utah is owned by the federal government. Herbert laid out three possible actions he and others could take to deal with that fact: legislation, litigation and negotiation.

“We have the ability to negotiate with the Department of the Interior,” Herbert said. “I know it sounds crazy but we’ve had opportunities to work with the administration to find solutions.”

At times, the rally resembled recent tea party events. House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara, took potshots at Washington, D.C., and Democrats.

“On every policy issue that has faced the Reid, Pelosi and Obama administration, there has been a choice between freedom and more government” Clark said. “And on every single issue, they have chosen the path of more government and less freedom.”

Utah’s 1st District Rep. Rob Bishop warned of federal efforts to buy more public lands for national monuments using the so-called Antiquities Act, which he said would enable officials to circumvent Congress.

“They’re talking about trying to control land in great ecosystems,” Bishop said. “I saw the map of their ecosystems — it’s the entire West.”

Randy Parker, a cattle rancher and chief executive officer of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, took jabs at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and other “members of the left-wing environmental Mafia.”

“The radical environmentalists want to lock up Utah into non-use designations like the Red Rock Wilderness bill,” Parker said. “SUWA had to go to New York to get congressional support because they’re so removed from Utah and the people of Utah.” … [more]

Oregon timber harvest near historic low in 2009

By STEVEN DUBOIS, Bloomberg Businessweek, Aug 20, 2010 [here]

Continued weakness in housing construction sent the Oregon timber harvest to near historic lows last year, the state Department of Forestry said Friday.

The 2009 harvest was 2.748 billion board feet, a 20 percent decline from a weak 2008 and the lowest figure since a Great Depression-era harvest of 2.622 billion board feet.

Timber picked up some earlier this year, after a temporary bounce in log prices, but Forestry Department economist Gary Lettman was cautious about predicting a major recovery.

“The earliest would be 2011, but that’s optimistic,” he said.

Oregon’s largest timber harvest was 9.743 billion board feet in 1972. The state maintained levels above 8 billion until the late 1980s, when environmental issues such as the spotted owl prompted sharp cutbacks in logging on federal lands. … [more]

Note: considering economic multiplier effects, a board foot is worth about a dollar. Hence the 7 billion board foot difference between 1972 and 2009 represents about a $7 billion annual shortfall in Oregon’s economy.

Swanson to shutter another Oregon sawmill

The future of mills in Springfield and Noti is unclear; officials blame the government for the cutbacks

By Ilene Aleshire, The Register-Guard, Aug 20, 2010 [here]

The Swanson Group said Thursday it is closing its Glendale sawmill indefinitely and scaling back operations at its studmill in Roseburg, blaming the federal government for conditions it said led to the cutbacks.

Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., seconded Swanson’s complaints, criticizing the Obama adminstration for a loss in the supply of timber from federal lands and both the Bush and Obama administrations for not protecting the Northwest from what he said were subsidized Canadian imports.

Swanson is based in Glendale, north of Grants Pass, and also operates mills in Noti and Springfield.

The Glendale mill will stop operating as soon as it uses up its current inventory of logs and may never reopen, Swanson officials said in a written statement. Operations at the Roseburg mill will be scaled back from 60 hours a week to 20 hours per week. All told, about 90 employees will be affected by the two actions, the company said. After the cuts, the company said it will have about 650 employees.

CEO Steven Swanson was not available Thursday to discuss the outlook for the Springfield and Noti mills.

While a lot of overlapping factors led to the shutdown of the Glendale mill and cut in operations at Roseburg, including the ongoing recession and housing slump, Swanson officials said they laid much of the responsibility at the federal government’s door.

“Cheap subsidized Canadian imports continue to flow into the U.S., further deflating markets while our government remains unwilling to provide a reasonable or sustainable volume of timber for rural mills and communities,” company officials said.

The federal government’s timber sale program, particularly on Bureau of Land Management properties, “has gone from bad to worse,” Swanson officials said. “The situation in southwest Oregon, where the federal government manages more than 60 percent of the forestland, is dire.”

The Medford BLM district, which has historically provided the majority of logs needed to run the Glendale mill, now provides less than 4 percent, the company said. “Without a significant increase in timber offerings by the U.S. government, this sawmill may never re-open,” company officials said. … [more]

Hoots and hollers: Surprising forest tour with QLG and Legacy along for the ride

by Alicia Knadler, Plumas County news, 8/18/2010 [here]

A forest tour Tuesday, Aug. 10, ended in a hoot, and it wasn’t from an owl.

It was a shout of surprised laughter from Quincy Library Group attorney Michael Jackson.

Along for the ride on the tour were Quincy Library Group members, a Sierra Forest Legacy representative, local landowners, Forest Service officers and other forest stakeholders.

“Just because we’re fighting over the forest doesn’t mean we have to fight over everything,” Jackson said with a huge smile for Jim Brobeck of Sierra Forest Legacy and Butte County Fire Safe Council.

Brobeck, a member of the organization now in litigation with the Forest Service over the 2004 Sierra Nevada Framework, had just finished sharing his thoughts about the Genesee Wildland Urban Interface Fuels Reduction and Black Oak Enhancement Project.

He was impressed by the ecosystem management approach to the project, which was explained in each area of the tour by Ryan Tompkins, silviculturist for the Plumas National Forest Mount Hough Ranger District.

He doesn’t like fiber production to the emphasis of fuel reduction jobs on the forest.

“It was really great to have Michael Jackson sharing Native American stories about historical management of the area,” Brobeck said, and he envisions the project teaching people how to use fire in ways that won’t hurt the land or the people. … [more]

Note: forest restoration should be informed by the historical conditions — which were influenced by the traditional ecological practices of the pre-Contact residents. It is good to see that information finally trickling in. Perhaps a pull back on the lawsuits might aid in getting the job done, eh Jim?

Activist ‘Green’ Lawyers Billing U.S. Millions in Fraudulent Attorney Fees

by Richard Pollock, The Westerner, August 15, 2010 [here]

Without any oversight, accounting, or transparency, environmental activist groups have surreptitiously received at least $37 million from the federal government for questionable “attorney fees.” The lawsuits they received compensation for had nothing to do with environmental protection or improvement.

The activist groups have generated huge revenue streams via the obscure Equal Access to Justice Act. Congressional sources claim the groups are billing for “cookie cutter” lawsuits — they file the same petitions to multiple agencies on procedural grounds, and under the Act, they file for attorney fees even if they do not win the case. Since 1995, the federal government has neither tracked nor accounted for any of these attorney fee payments.

Nine national environmental activist groups alone have filed more than 3,300 suits, every single one seeking attorney fees. The groups have also charged as much as $650 per hour (a federal statutory cap usually limits attorney fees to $125 per hour).

In well over half of the cases, there was no court judgment in the environmental groups’ favor. In all cases, whether there was any possible environmental benefit from the litigation is highly questionable. Most cases were simply based upon an alleged failure to comply with a deadline or to follow a procedure.

A whistleblower who was employed for 30 years by the U.S. Forest Service told Pajamas Media:

Some organizations have built a business doing this and attacking the agencies on process, and then getting “reimbursed.”

This week a bipartisan group of congressional members introduced legislation to end the secrecy of the payments and force the government to open up the records to show exactly how much has been paid to the groups and the questionable attorney fees. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). …

The $37 million figure is considered low. It includes less than a dozen groups and only accounts for cases in 19 states and the District of Columbia. There are hundreds of eco-activist groups in the United States. … [more]

Here is a sampling of the number of assembly line “lawsuits” filed between 2000 and 2009 that have been painstakingly identified by the Western Legacy Alliance and Budd-Falen. Activist group Western Watersheds Project filed 91 lawsuits in the federal district courts; Forest Guardians (now known as WildEarth Guardians) filed 180 lawsuits; the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed at 409 suits; the Wilderness Society filed 149 lawsuits; the National Wildlife Federation filed 427 lawsuits; and the Sierra Club filed 983 lawsuits. These numbers do not include administrative appeals or notices of intent to sue.

Even local or regional environmental groups have figured out ways to turn on the taxpayer spigot. WLA found the Idaho Conservation League filed 72 lawsuits and the Oregon Natural Desert Association filed 50. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed 88 lawsuits. At last count, just eight local groups in nine Western states have filed nearly 1,600 lawsuits against the federal government.

On the national level, over the last decade nine national environmental groups have filed 3,300 cases against the federal government. As is usual, the vast majority of the cases deal with the alleged procedural failings of federal agencies, not with substance or science. …

Fourteen groups identified as recipients of the Act’s funding are: the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Forest Guardians, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Western Watersheds Project, Defenders of Wildlife, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, WildEarth, Oregon Natural Desert Association, Oregon Wild, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Wyoming Outdoor Council. …

Environmental organizations are among the most financially prosperous non-profits in the country. The Sierra Club alone in 2007 reported its total worth as $56.6 million. According to 2007 Internal Revenue Service records, the top ten environmental presidents receive as much as a half million dollars a year in annual compensation. Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, Inc reported $492,000 in executive compensation in 2007. The top ten highest grossing environmental executives all received at least $308,000 in compensation.

Environmental activist groups also have been among the most influential in throwing around political money. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, between 2000 and this year activist environmental political action committees have given $3.4 million in campaign contributions to candidates for federal office. About 87% of the money went to Democrats.

Richard Pollock is the Washington, D.C., editor for Pajamas Media and the Washington bureau chief of PJTV.

Hidden in Wis. national forest: marijuana megafarm

By TODD RICHMOND, AP, Yahoo News, Aug 12, 2010 [here]

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Northern Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is a vast, verdant getaway for hundreds of thousands of campers, hikers and anglers every year. But hidden within was a marijuana megafarm.

Investigators say a band of Hispanic men turned the forest’s southeastern tip into a giant pot farm, growing thousands of plants on remote plots, moving supplies along forgotten logging roads and buying supplies and ammunition at local stores.

Nobody in law enforcement has said it publicly, but the style matches that of Mexican cartels that have been using public land in the United States to grow vast amounts of marijuana and avoid the risk and expense of smuggling the drugs across the border.

“There certainly is an element to this that leads one to believe there is a Hispanic connection here,” Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said. He declined to elaborate. …

Investigators discovered at least nine different plots in the [Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest] as well as at least 1,000 plants on the adjacent Menominee Indian Reservation.

Oconto County Sheriff Mike Jansen estimated they seized about 50,000 plants, but Van Hollen cautioned that authorities were still counting and the number currently stood closer to 10,000. …

A search of the Seymour house found marijuana drying throughout it and a stash of firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle. Officers said the smell of pot permeated the entire house. They also raided a storage unit, where they discovered a wire transfer of $2,500 to a man in Modesto, Calif., about $6,000 in cash and 72 pounds worth of processed marijuana in cardboard boxes and garbage bags — yet another cartel grow operation standby. … [more]

Nicolet forest’s solitude attracts major pot-growing operations

12 men charged after weapons, 50,000 plants are found

By Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 13, 2010 [here]

Mountain — The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest looks like a giant, verdant paint stroke across Wisconsin, and its remote beauty attracts many people - canoeists, hikers, birdwatchers, campers and anglers.

But it wasn’t the forest’s allure that drew a group of men to this bucolic setting, it was the isolation, abundance of water and ideal growing conditions for their crop.

A crop, officials say, that an increasing number of growers are willing to resort to violence to protect.

One day after eight men were charged in federal court with a massive marijuana growing operation at several sites in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, authorities noted that in the last two weeks at least three shootouts have erupted between marijuana growers and law enforcement officers in the United States and two growers were shot to death by officers in California forests.

“These can be very dangerous situations,” Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said at a news briefing in Oconto on Thursday afternoon, after four additional charges in the case brought the total to 12. “There’s a lot of money on the line here.”

Last year 2.5 million illegal marijuana plants were discovered in the national forest system and destroyed, said Rich Glodowski, special agent in charge for the U.S. Forest Service. …

Van Hollen declined to say whether the defendants are members of a Mexican drug cartel; investigators are checking to see whether the men are legally in the U.S. In recent years, national forests and parks in other states have been prime targets of Mexican drug gangs and their massive marijuana growing operations. … [more]

Note: The Obama Admin says forest un-management, open borders, and amnesty are the answers. Are they members of the Mexican Drug Cartel, too?

Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests

AP News, My Central Oregon, 08/08/10 [here]

As the helicopter raced over the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Saturday morning, the pilot explained his rationale for flying low and fast.

“We try to fly about 300 feet above the ground,” said the Jackson County Sheriff’s deputy. “It’s better than at high altitude. This way you are only a target for a few seconds.”

Folks who grow marijuana on federal forestland have been known to take shots at unwanted visitors, he will tell you.

He and the copilot _both of whom asked not to be named or photographed because of the sensitivity of their work - were flying U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, to Gold Beach to discuss the growing marijuana problem on federal land with a team of drug fighters called Southern Oregon Multi-Agency Marijuana Eradication and Reclamation or SOMMER.

En route, the deputies pointed out sites where patches of marijuana plants had been confiscated in the mountains overlooking the Applegate Valley. Most of the raided patches resembled clear cuts from the air.

The pot isn’t just on federal land: the helicopter flew over countless marijuana plants growing behind tall fences adjacent to homes in Jackson and Josephine counties, which one of the deputies described as “pseudo medical marijuana” patches. Some of the sites had more than two dozen plants that look like oversized tomato plants from above.

But the pilot steered clear of what he described as two active “cartel grows” on federal land farther into the flight, noting he didn’t want to tip off the growers.

A “grow” refers to an illegal marijuana patch. “Cartel” is a reference to Mexican drug-trafficking organizations which law enforcement officials say are now involved in growing marijuana on federal land in the region.

To a man, the seven sheriffs in the group organized by Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters urged Walden for more funding to beef up their departments, which have been hit hard by budget cuts over the years. … [more]

Mendocino public land at center of pot war

Officials determined to take back national forest from illegal, armed growers

By GLENDA ANDERSON, Press Democrat, August 6, 2010 [here]

Mendocino County officials say they’re determined to take back public lands from armed marijuana growers, with or without declaring a state of emergency requested by concerned citizens earlier this week.

“I’ve had it. We’re going to get the illegal growers out of the national forest,” said Mendocino County Supervisor John Pinches.

Sheriff Tom Allman said he’s already working on a plan for a large-scale attack on the illegal growers in the Mendocino National Forest.

Armed pot growers are keeping hikers, hunters, fishermen, equestrians and cattle ranchers from utilizing land that belongs to the public, county residents said.

People who live near and use the forest land are demanding that something be done. On Tuesday, they called on supervisors to declare a state of emergency and bring in the National Guard to help clear the forest of dangerous intruders.

“It’s an armed invasion of American soil,” said Ann Marie Bauer, a fifth generation rancher in Round Valley.

Suspected pot growers have fired over her head to scare her away while she was moving cattle on forest land the family leases. She said she is afraid to retrieve a group of cattle that is grazing down a trail where she knows marijuana has been growing.

The gun-toting invaders, many of them Mexican nationals, are cultivating massive amounts of marijuana on public land for Mexican cartels, law authorities contend. … [more]

Outdated Laws, Tricky Maneuvers Lock Up Land in Montana

By Dave Galt, Montana Petroleum Association, Big Sky Business Journal, August 5, 2010 [here]

It’s not just Centrocercus, the sage grouse. It’s also a century-old law called the “Antiquities Act of 1906.” These are just two of many levers that are being pushed to bring oil and natural gas production to a halt in our country, and Montana has a front row seat for watching it all.

Citing the need to protect sage grouse mating areas from oil and natural gas activities, national environmental groups have sued to stop energy development in the bird’s habitat in a number of states, including in some of the Montana’s oldest oil and gas fields where the species has been breeding and nesting, co-existing with drilling rigs for decades.

Internal documents reveal the Obama administration is meeting with environmentalists about using the 1906 Antiquities Law to lock away 2.5 million acres of land in Montana. The law allows a U.S. president to remove federal land from multiple uses by executive order. This would mean restricted grazing, restricted mineral rights and limited recreational use.

A national environmental organization (Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership) joined with Montana Wildlife Federation and their affiliated rod and gun clubs across Montana to petition the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to make another 225,000 acres in eastern Montana ineligible for leasing for oil and gas development.

Whether it’s to save a bird that’s not endangered or whether it’s to move public lands out of active use in order to “protect” the lands, a range of reasons is being given for stopping energy production in the West.

It’s already begun in Montana. This year BLM suspended 63 oil and natural gas leases in Montana that were issued in 2008. This was a way to settle lawsuits filed by national environmental groups that complained the BLM did not perform an analysis of climate change impacts before granting the leases. The Obama administration has now suspended all leasing of federal minerals in Montana and the Dakotas until this analysis is completed. … [more]

See also [here]

Judge Molloy’s ruling causes uncertainty over slurry use in firefighting

By Rob Chaney, the Missoulian, July 31, 2010 [here]

As the U.S. Forest Service struggles to find a new plane to drop fire retardant, it may also need a new fire retardant to drop.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Don Molloy ruled the agency didn’t do enough research on ammonium-based retardant’s toxic effects on plants and animals. While he didn’t block the use of slurry, he did order the Forest Service to more thoroughly examine the chemical mixture’s effects by the end of 2011. …

The group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics brought the suit against the Forest Service. FSEEE argued ammonium-based retardants have been blamed for destroying both fish and plant habitats. The slurry kills fish outright, and its fertilizing properties invite noxious weeds and other invaders into rare-plant soils.

The Forest Service already has rules for where retardants can be dropped around water sources. But Molloy ruled the agency needs to produce more specific data on the impacts to threatened or endangered species. … [more]

Note: Fire retardant saves lives, including those of fish and FS employees. FS employees know those facts. Why then do FS employees wish to ban fire retardant? Are they suicidally insane? Or could it be that the FSEEE does not actually represent most FS employees?

Monuments Could Be Blocked By Senate

Crapo, Risch, say restrictions needed on Presidential declarations

American Chronicles, July 29, 2010 [here]

Washington, D.C. – Presidential authority to declare new federal monuments on public land will be restricted under legislation introduced by Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch. The National Monument Designation Transparency and Accountability Act calls for Congressional approval within two years of any executive order by a President seeking a monument designation. If the two-year deadline passes without congressional approval, the land would return to its original status.

The legislation also requires that the President provide Congress with information about the actions 30 days prior to any Executive Order designation. It calls for public hearings and sets land restrictions for the monument designation. Crapo and Risch previously sent Interior Secretary Ken Salazar a letter warning against sweeping decisions about national monuments.

“This kind of top-down directive is anything but collaborative,” Crapo said. “For too long, Presidents have had the ability to sneak monument designations into law without any Congressional oversight, review or approval. The most recent example came up when the Interior Department engaged in discussions about acquiring 140,000 acres of private lands in the Pioneer Mountains. But this is not an issue with only this Administration. This legislation is critical so that the public and Congress can review and engage in any decisions involving private and public lands and designations for national monuments.” … [more]

Note: Looks to me like an election stunt that will never amount to anything.

California’s New Pot Patch

Los Angeles County Blossoms as a Rival to North’s Renowned ‘Emerald Triangle’

By TAMARA AUDI, Wall Street Journal, JULY 21, 2010 [here]

Northern California’s so-called Emerald Triangle, famous for marijuana farms that supply much of the U.S. with high-quality pot, is facing competition from hundreds of miles away—in Los Angeles County.

As this year’s marijuana-harvest season gets under way, law-enforcement officials are focused on the Southern California county, which by some measures has bloomed into the nation’s most productive pot garden.

Law-enforcement agents seized more than 734,000 pot plants in Los Angeles County last year—the highest number of seizures in the country for that year. The haul surpassed those even in California’s most-prolific northern counties, with the biggest 2009 seizure coming from Shasta County at 629,000 plants.

Northern California as a whole still grows most of the nation’s pot, according to law-enforcement officials. But the drastic spike in Los Angeles County pot-plant seizures has law-enforcement officials trying to figure out what is behind the increase, and whether it represents a real shift in the lucrative pot trade. …

Recent seizures in Los Angeles County have astonished even veterans of the state’s long drug war. On a single Friday in late June, law-enforcement agents destroyed 19,000 plants with a street value of $39 million, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.

Most of the county’s marijuana plants are grown in the Angeles National Forest, a rugged wilderness stretching over 650,000 acres east of Los Angeles, according to U.S. Forest Service records. Forest Service and Sheriff’s Department officials recently warned hikers about the presence of pot farms in the forest—along with the armed guards and booby traps that come with them. …

Some in law enforcement believe that tightened security along the Mexican border has curtailed drug smuggling and forced growers to cultivate their pot closer to their U.S. market.

Another possible reason: Angeles National Forest has become attractive to Mexican drug cartels because it offers remote open space, a perfect growing climate, little competition and a base close to home. … [more]

Five Federal Lands in Arizona Have Travel Warnings in Place

By Joshua Rhett Miller, FOXNews.com, June 18, 2010 [here]

Imagine the federal government closing a section of the Lincoln Memorial because it was under the control of Mexican drug lords and bands of illegal immigrants.

That scenario is playing out as reality in southern Arizona, where parts of five federal lands — including two designated national monuments — continue to post travel warnings or be outright closed to Americans who own the land because of the dangers of “human and drug trafficking” along the Mexican border.

Roughly 3,500 acres of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge — about 3 percent of the 118,000-acre park — have been closed since Oct. 6, 2006, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials acknowledged a marked increase in violence along a tract of land that extends north from the border for roughly three-quarters of a mile. Federal officials say they have no plans to reopen the area.

Elsewhere, at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which shares a 32-mile stretch of the border with Mexico, visitors are warned on a federally-run website that some areas are not accessible by anyone.

“Due to our proximity to the International Boundary with Mexico, some areas near the border are closed for construction and visitor safety concerns,” the website reads. …

Visitors are also warned to be mindful of illegal immigrants within Ironwood Forest National Monument, a 129,000-acre federal parkland in the Sonoran Desert.

“All suspected illegal activities should be reported to [the Bureau of Land Management] or local law enforcement authorities,” Ironwood Forest’s website reads. “Visitors should stay safe by avoiding contact with persons exhibiting suspicious behavior or engaged in dangerous activities. Drive with caution and look for fast-moving vehicles and pedestrians on back roads.” … [more]