POINT REYES, Calif. — Sheriff's deputies and park rangers shut down an outdoor marijuana operation near Point Reyes Station on Monday, seizing 3,500 plants with an estimated street value of $9 million.
The farm, divided into two groves about 70 yards apart, was located on Bolinas Ridge near Platform Bridge Road in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Police spotted the groves during a surveillance flight.
A campsite was found at the scene, but the growers had already left, said sheriff's Lt. Scott Anderson. Based on the maturity of the plants, Anderson estimated said the growers had been cultivating there for 60 to 90 days prior to the bust.
"It didn't look like it was occupied full time," he said.
Two smaller groves of fewer than 100 plants each were also found in the area, but Anderson said they did not appear to be managed by the same growers as the larger plots.
The bust was the first major outdoor eradication of the season in West Marin. The peak outdoor harvest time generally runs from late August to early October.
This year's eradication haul appears certain to fall well short of last year's, when police seized some 50,000 plants in West Marin, many from groves in the Bolinas Ridge area. A report from the Marin County Major Crimes Task Force estimated the street value of the 2006 haul at $90 million.
The National Seashore alone spent $100,000 cleaning up the debris and repairing damage to the land last year, according to park officials.
Authorities have been promising a tough enforcement effort this year since the last growing season, and police flyovers were being conducted as early as May.
"We are doing our best to ensure the safety of park visitors and staff and eliminate the resource damage caused by this illegal growing activity," said Colin Smith, chief ranger at the seashore.
Marijuana cultivation is on the decline outdoors, but it has been picking up indoors. Since June, police have raided six residential farms in Marin, seized about 2,000 indoor plants and arrested 11 suspects.
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