CEDAR CITY - Forest Service officials are turning to the grass roots - hikers, hunters, passers-by - to help root out, well, grass. You know, the illegal kind. Pot. Dope. Weed. Yes, marijuana increasingly is springing up in remote areas throughout the West, including Utah, and federal officers are seeking public help in eliminating the illegal plants from public land. "A large grow was reported by a citizen last year on the Pine Valley Ranger District [of the Dixie National Forest] just north of St. George," says Special Agent Charlie Vaughn, criminal investigator for the Dixie, Fishlake and Manti-La Sal national forests in southern and central Utah. [continues 351 words]
Federal and local government agencies organized a helicopter reconnaissance of public lands in southern Utah over the past week in an attempt to locate areas where controlled substances are being illegally manufactured or cultivated. The U.S. Forest Service and five narcotics task forces from 13 Utah counties were joined by a counter-drug unit of the Defense Department in the project. Officials would not reveal if any suspicious areas were identified. The request to use helicopters from a Marine Corps unit out of Edwards Air Force Base in California came from the Forest Service's Law Enforcement and Investigations branch, according to a news release from Dixie National Forest. [continues 274 words]
