10,000 pot plants seized in park north of 152

A band of law enforcement agencies seized more than 10,000 illegal marijuana plants with alleged links to the Mexican cartel from steep terrain of Henry Coe State Park on Wednesday afternoon.
After spotting the illegal grow by helicopter last month, 40 deputies from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and the SWAT team arranged to hike into the remote southwest corridor of the state park, about nine miles north from the park’s entrance near Casa De Fruta, to raid the grow and whack down the plants with machetes. 
“It was much bigger than we thought,” said Sheriff Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup, as the team of officers radioed updates to the command post about two miles from the grow. 
The first helicopter trip dumped about 500 pounds of marijuana into a container at 1 p.m. Stenderup said he expected the grow would require more than 10 helicopter trips throughout the afternoon. 
County Sheriff Laurie Smith said the biggest problem these professional, illegal grows cause are environmental hazards and threats to public safety. 
“They use chemicals, that if you were to touch with your skin, they would kill you,” Smith said. “They are pesticides that are not legal anywhere in the country.”
Doug Hudkins, assistant chief for the Northern California Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed with Smith, and chimed in. 
“We’ve got families that don’t want to hike in our parks because of these grows. They are booby trapped by people protecting their illegal operations,” Hudkins said. 
Mark Michilizzi, a warden for Fish and Wildlife, said these large-scale pot grows poison the public’s water supply. 
“They’re stealing water, water that feeds into our creeks and lakes and eventually becomes our drinking supply,” Michilizzi said. 
Anticipation built Wednesday afternoon at the command post as a handful of officers from Fish and Wildlife and about a dozen Sheriff’s deputies waited for updates from the eradication team. A few officers labored over a barbecue, grinding pepper over slabs of steak that would be delivered to those at the crime scene by helicopter.
This is the seventh major outdoor pot bust the county has conducted this year, Stenderup said. Summertime, as pot plants are thriving but not yet harvested, is the busiest time of year for eradication. 
“This time of year, we’re hiking into grows twice a week,” he said. “And you have to remember, we’re not going after guys with six plants in their backyard.”
It takes the cartel a long time to research and set up the sight of an illegal grow, including building an irrigation system to tap into a natural water source. The people who live in the wilderness and tend to the plants are often victims themselves of a larger criminal scheme. 
“The people in there are not the people we’re looking for. We’re looking for their boss,” Smith said. 
Officers found evidence that people were living on the site but did not find any suspects. 
The plants will be incinerated, Stenderup said. 
“No, we don’t just have a big bonfire and toke up,” he added, jokingly.