Читать книгу Trinity Alps & Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas. A Hiking and Backpacking Guide онлайн

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WATCHING THE GRASS GROW

Many miles of trail in the northwestern Trinity Alps are not covered in this guide for the not-so-simple reason that this area has long been a hotbed of illegal marijuana cultivation. During the 1970s and ’80s, pot growers virtually took over a vast area of territory that included East Fork New River, Pony Creek, Slide Creek, Eagle Creek, and Mary Blaine Meadow. USFS personnel did not patrol or maintain any of these trails, advising recreational enthusiasts to avoid the area altogether. In the course of events, two guard stations were burned down, shots were fired at or near USFS staff, and numerous vehicles were vandalized and burned while parked at trailheads.

In the mid-1980s, a major law enforcement effort was carried out in this area by armed forest rangers, state and federal narcotics agents, and Trinity County deputy sheriffs. Marijuana plantations were destroyed, illegal structures torn down, and large amounts of trash packed out. Maintenance crews restored some of the trails, and they were subsequently declared safe for outdoor enthusiasts to use again. That said, growing operations likely still exist in many areas covered in this book, thanks to declining government budgets for both maintenance and patrols and in spite of the fact that marijuana grown for personal/medical use is now legal and regulated in California.