According to personal accounts, High Sierra volunteers dedicate their time because they feel a sense of land stewardship and an obligation to deter growers from returning to cultivated areas. Without the regular coordination of cleanup efforts by non-profit organizations such as the High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew, site reclamation would be much less feasible. Volunteer groups rotate from site to site for efficient cleanup, but liability issues extend the time frame before they are allowed to enter any site, if they are allowed entry at all. Even though it has become common for volunteer groups to clean up cultivated landscapes, there remain major bureaucratic barriers that prevent the full utilization of volunteers. Even with sites secured by law enforcement officers, people face an array of hazards on the rugged hikes and potentially dangerous sites. Government agencies therefore require waivers of liability and extensive precautions against injury such as an armed security escort, proper clothing, hard hats, gloves, and use of established trails among other precautions. The reality of remote DTO cultivation negates the romanticized visions of hippies, young experimenters, or mom and pop cultivators growing weed in their backyards. Almost 160,000 plants were eradicated from the national forests in 1983.83 In 2006, after the firm establishment of DTOs in the US, 6,305,202 marijuana plants were eradicated from national forests throughout the United States, over half of which were in California. In the words of rap artist Immortal Technique, “this is big business, this is the American way.” The scale of marijuana production in the United States has boomed in the past thirty years, causing proportional changes in the scale of the market,cannabis grow lights environmental destruction, and safety hazards. The spread of information concerning the problems caused by industrial scale marijuana production has significantly increased, but much more must still be done.
The prevalence of cooperative counter-cultivation efforts shows that the response to DTO cultivation is no longer the burden of a handful of agencies, but of every institution and person with vested interests in public lands. By building working relationships, agencies and people can combine money, labor and strategic resources to make these cooperative efforts a more powerful force. However, until they incorporate holistic approaches for prevention, reclamation, and investigative follow through, their potential impact on remote Cannabis cultivation will never be realized. It will require a combination of new law enforcement strategies, long term investment of the necessary resources, and drastic changes in public policy to change the current trends in marijuana production on public lands. “This issue has been intensifying for several years. The risk to those profiting has been minimal. The incentives to continue have been enormous. To be effective, we must commit to a well designed, long term collaborative strategy.”84 The changes that must take place can only occur over time: investigations need to produce results; central agencies need to conduct regular assessments of their effectiveness and adapt their methods; resources need to be allocated for site processing; citizens need to be educated about the issue; public officials need to reconsider current policies. Preventative law enforcement efforts have proven more effective than previous methods, but commitment to them requires immense funding and strategic planning. They must occur on a daily basis over a widespread geographic area and are therefore difficult to implement comprehensively. Sustained cultivation prevention would require a significant increase of year round staffing within government organizations that are currently operating under budget cuts. If top officials choose to continue on the path laid out in the strategic plan, it is necessary to assign more staff so that marijuana specific employees can maintain manageable workloads, fully complete investigations, process and investigate sites, and continue preventative monitoring. However, continuing the trends of ever increasing demand for law enforcement, or more broadly, the growth of the law enforcement industry, may not be the solution.
If current marijuana control policies remain, increased reliance on tools such as remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems , and centralized information analysis centers can make site detection, information gathering, and remote operations more effective. “Cannabis interdiction operations have involved extensive use of aerial observation to locate actual cultivated plots or potential growth sites. This approach is both time-consuming and expensive, and is also frequently hampered by thick forest vegetation cover [and forest fires]. Therefore, a more efficient method for identifying potential target areas is required to facilitate the interdiction operations.”85 The use of remote sensing can allow law enforcers to detect remote cultivator operations more efficiently using an array of technologies that create less strain on human resources. Specific applications include the use of electronic sensors placed at eradicated sites to detect cultivator return, infrared heat imaging to detect the presence of humans in remote areas, radio transmission interception to record DTO communications, and satellite imagery to detect campsites and tree canopy thinning without alerting cultivators to the presence of helicopters. Land managers can integrate expert knowledge with GIS data input and analysis in order to map eradicated sites, compile statistics for official reports, and to facilitate preventative monitoring. These systems can be used to compile significant data from investigations in order to recognize trends, modify strategies and monitor remote areas in the future. Data compilation and spatial analysis can enable law enforcers to identify potential cultivation sites in an effort to prevent the creation of new ones. The use of these systems at centralized intelligence analysis centers would allow agents to instantly access significant information across agencies, and would foster the development of regular assessments that create awareness in government officials, land management personnel, law enforcement officers, and public citizens. The information gathered at intelligence centers can support “prosecutor-led, intelligence-based task forces that bring together the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to dismantle drug cartels through investigation, extradition and the seizure and forfeiture of assets.”
The reason for this is that unless they are repeat offenders, or provide crucial information that most cultivators don’t have, the individuals are deported regardless of their crimes. The formation of specific task forces within agencies that possess jurisdiction for international operations, such as the DEA and the Department of Homeland Security, can create effective prosecution of cartel members, and impede DTO operation through international relations and governmental partnerships. Proper resource allocation as well as strategic networking is necessary to encourage cooperative efforts at an international level. With a developed understanding of the problems created by DTO marijuana cultivation, officials can collaborate and use more effective methods to oppose DTO operations. The marijuana control struggle no longer revolves around removing plants from the market, but centers on removing the powerful organizations that control the market. “As we’ve found with other large criminal groups, if you take their money and lock up their leaders, you can loosen their grip on the vast organizations that are used to carry out their criminal activities.”However, if DTOs are removed from the market the government’s task will still not be completed. Land management agencies should conduct site reclamation at all damaged landscapes to ensure that all clean up and remediation needs are met. “The mission of the US Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations,” but through the evolution of law enforcement responsibilities within land management agencies, the essence of their missions have been lost.Only a small portion of site reclamation needs are being met to the detriment of the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s public lands. Environmental reclamation should be an inherent step included in post-eradication site processing. The California Conservation Corps has conducted the majority of cleanup efforts, but more is still to be done. Non-profit organizations and environmental groups desire to assist more in the reclamation of natural landscapes,cannabis grow tent and this process can provide a good medium for public education. Utilizing the help of volunteers lowers reclamation costs and informs people first-hand about the realities of remote cultivation. Due to liability issues, however, what is saved in money is sometimes lost in time and restrictions. Volunteers cannot viably clean up the majority of sites because of safety concerns and the sheer scale of labor that is necessary. The result is a widespread neglect of the very areas that land management institutions were created to protect. Public education is a crucial element of preserving public lands. There is a major gap in knowledge between the public, politicians and people who deal with this issue on a day to day basis. The US Forest Service has 192 million visitors every year, most of whom are ignorant to the issues surrounding the valuable public lands that they are visiting.An increased awareness of what is occurring, what the effects are, and what individuals can do to help would foster safe public practices as well as increase reports of suspicious activities. The Strategic Plan sites public education as a major contributor to the long term marijuana control strategy, but experts in the field are stretched too thin to conduct the public education campaign that is necessary to make a difference.
Twenty to thirty percent of cultivation sites are discovered by members of the public who run into a cultivator or spot irrigation lines.Given a widespread understanding of marijuana related activities on national forests, the number of sites safely reported by civilians could increase drastically. Many land management and law enforcement employees are unaware of DTO operations until they are forced to deal with cultivation sites first hand. Individuals such as forest service employees and highway patrolmen need to understand DTO operations because they have a high probability of encountering DTO related activity. A widespread, sustained program is the best way to transmit the breadth of fragmented information on this topic to the public using reliable sources. Such a project could provide land managers and law enforcement with the support they need to adequately monitor areas and respond accordingly. It could also encourage individuals to write to governmental officials and create pressure for policy makers to act. Mexican DTOs are the foremost cultivator group and have the single largest impact on the marijuana industry. The same organizations responsible for the majority of marijuana production on California public lands are the heart of the bloody Mexican drug war. President Obama met with officials in Mexico City and augmented “ongoing US aid to Mexico under the Merida initiative: a three-year, $1.4 billion package aimed at helping Mexico fight the drug cartels with law enforcement training, military equipment and improved intelligence cooperation.”However, this money is yet to incur any noticeable effect on drug cartels.In order to disrupt DTOs, the United States needs to halt the flow of money and weapons from the US to Mexico. By upholding current regulations, we empower cartels to continue their destructive, violent practices. Marijuana cultivation on public lands is a significant problem with viable solutions, but without essential changes in law enforcement strategies and nationwide public policy, it is a problem we can expect to continue, putting the future of our lands and our people at risk. The US war against marijuana has increasingly escalated since its conception because it is not a war that can be won. Drug production has become increasingly destructive and dangerous despite an estimated $7.7 billion spent annually by the US Government to enforce marijuana laws.Such regulation inflates the steady revenue flowing to criminal organizations that in turn generate widespread crime and violence. Regardless of the legal status of marijuana, as long as it remains in high demand there will be a market to supply it, regulated or unregulated. Government-imposed prohibition gives rise to black market systems that are dominated by major criminal organizations that control production and distribution. This system of perpetual crime and punishment is sustained at the cost of all parties involved, and requires a fundamental change in the system itself. Public policy plays the most crucial role in dictating the status of marijuana markets and their effects on governance and fiscal resources. The most powerful mechanism for opposing cultivation trends is to change the role of marijuana in California and the United States through legalization.