May 2008

VWA cleans up wilderness

Fifteen VWA volunteers successfully cleaned up a harvested marijuana grow site in the Ventana Wilderness in April. The site was about a mile and a half up the Nacimiento River from the old ABC Camp and accessed by a rough use trail requiring five river crossings.

Volunteers had improved the trail prior to this past weekend to make it more safely navigable. About twenty backpack loads of irrigation tubing and general trash were packed out —enough to fill a large pickup truck. We also brought out the usual toxic materials found at these sites: Miracle-Gro, zinc phosphide rat poison, propane cylinders, batteries, and pipe glue, all left exposed to the elements.

The Forest Service provided the truck, back up security and District Ranger John Bradford who pitched in all day Saturday working at the site.

As we plan and schedule additional grow site cleanup projects, we will need additional volunteers to help with the work and join the fun. If you would like to volunteer for this next cleanup, or future projects, please email your phone number to me at .

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of these sites on public land in the Ventana Region that need to be cleaned up and restored.

—Tom Hopkins

Santa Cruz

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