TULE RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION -- Local, state and federal law enforcement officials on Monday finished cutting down a marijuana garden worth an estimated $289 million that agents discovered last week in a remote location along steep hills here.
"This is perhaps the largest garden in the state this year, if not in history," said Tulare County sheriff's Lt. Donna Perry.
When agents finished counting about 4 p.m. Monday, they had cut down 72,321 plants. The discovery nearly doubled the total number seized in the county so far this year.
Before this bust, Tulare County agents had destroyed 22 gardens with 96,795 marijuana plants.
Officers discovered the garden Wednesday afternoon in the Bear Creek area of the Tule River Indian Reservation, about 25 miles east of Porterville.
Because the plants have buds the size of fists, agents consider them to be high grade and estimate each is worth $4,000 on the street. The national price range for sinsemilla, the variety of marijuana seized, is between $900 and $6,000 per pound, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
"It's a staggering amount of marijuana," said Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman. "The great thing about this bust is that this stuff won't be on our streets. This stuff will never get into the hands of our kids."
While the bust is perhaps the largest in the county's history and a big success for his department, Wittman said, there are probably more gardens missed than found.
Officers from the Tulare County sheriff's Tactical Enforcement Personnel team noticed the garden Wednesday during a routine flyover of the area. As officers began their raid, they saw several people leaving the area.
Officers secured the garden area that night. Carrying machetes and pruners, the agents began the tough job of cutting, counting and gathering the marijuana plants. Poison oak surrounds the area and, several agents say, getting rashes is part of the job.
As the site grew bigger, more teams were brought in, including two groups from the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting and agents from the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and the Tulare County and Fresno County sheriff's narcotics units.
The Tule River Tribal Council also helped agents eradicate the marijuana garden by digging a huge pit near the garden area where the plants were to be burned.
One suspect was either too brash to leave or unlucky enough not to hear all the commotion, said Lt. Val Jimenez of the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP, program.
"This guy was so brazen," Jimenez said, "he just kept on working. I almost didn't realize who he was. I thought he was one of our officers."
But, Jimenez said, Oscar Figueroa, 39, of Delano was one of the garden's workers and was arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation.
As agents got on the ground and began walking through the area, they discovered an elaborate watering system, four campsites, empty bottles of Miracle Grow and more plants.
"It just kept getting bigger and bigger," said Tulare County sheriff's Lt. Bob Masterson. "It's the biggest I've ever seen, and I've done this for two years. In fact, it's bigger than some of the guys here have ever seen, and some of them have done this for seven or eight years."
The steep terrain provides a natural defense against the curious, and the scrub oaks that cover the area and grow just above head high provide a perfect camouflage canopy, Masterson said.
Growers cut paths into the hills, laid miles of irrigation pipe and put up green-painted barbed wire to keep animals from eating the plants. They also left the area in a mess, scattering garbage and empty propane tanks throughout it.
Masterson said the site was a perfect spot for growing and that he believes at least three or four crops already had been grown there. With a maturity rate of roughly one month, growers often can get three or four crops in during the growing season that runs April through October.
Mexican cartels typically run the area's sophisticated gardens, Jimenez said, and agencies can use DNA to track plants from one cartel throughout the state.
The rugged terrain and scrub oaks surrounding the area make it hard for agents to see gardens from the air, but flying is the best way to pick them out, Masterson said.
Tribal Council members were not pleased with the discovery, the second one in recent years, and have worked closely with the law enforcement agencies.
"It's our land," said Steve Peyron, a natural resource technician with the Tule River Tribal Council. "Imagine if someone did this in your back yard."
The case remains under investigation, and anyone with information is asked to call (559) 733-6218.
The reporter can be reached at jplemons@fresnobee.com or 622-2409.
© 2002 , The Fresno Bee