NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

INCIDENTS

Santa Monica Mountains NRA

Rangers Eradicate Nine Marijuana Grow Sites

In late June, park rangers discovered a marijuana grow site located quite close to a popular hiking trail. The initial discovery was made by a ranger who stopped to investigate a suspicious social trail and discovered a plastic water hose in a nearby stream. As he was assessing the location, he encountered a man wearing camouflage clothing who turned and fled into the bushes. Rangers from both the NPS and California State Parks launched a thorough investigation of the area. They located nine different marijuana grow sites across a 9.6-acre area that together contained 3,517 plants. Over the past two weeks, rangers and firefighting crews have hauled out nearly a ton of trash and plants from the site and have begun restoration work. Herbicides, pesticides, rodent fencing, approximately two miles of plastic water hose and fertilizer were found at the site. Water was being diverted from a nearby creek to irrigate the plants, and native vegetation had been cut down to make room for the grow site. The park, along with others in Pacific West Region, received additional funding in 2009 for marijuana interdiction and eradication operations. These funds, combined with strong partnerships with California State Parks, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, other local land management agencies, and the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department have contributed significantly to the park's capacity to find and clean up grow sites in the mountains. [Lauren Newman, Public Affairs Specialist]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Yellowstone NP - Above-average water levels from this spring's lingering snowmelt nearly broke records in Yellowstone National Park's lakes and streams this month. Although now receding in most places, some areas remain closed due to dangerous conditions.

Manassas NBP - The four-day observance of the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas begins with a ceremony at the park tomorrow. But a new exhibit on the battle and Civil War opened this past Monday. Photo.

Office of Communications - Two new National Park Service Junior Ranger WebRanger games help kids learn about rip currents and general water safety.

George Washington MP - Lee Werst, currently chief of interpretation at Women's Rights, has been selected as the park's new chief ranger. He will EOD on August 14th.

* * * *

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

--- ### ---