, rangers confront illegal drug cultivation and/or trafficking at Sequoia National Park and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in California; Organ Pipe Cactus and Coronado national monuments in Arizona; and Amistad National Recreation Area and Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, among other park sites nationwide, including Yosemite.
In 2004, more than 44,000 plants were eradicated within Sequoia National Park. That same year, about 10,000 marijuana plants were eradicated from within Yosemite National Park and on its border, with a street value estimated at over $30 million.
Drug cultivation and trafficking in the parks is a dangerous enterprise. “In addition to employing armed guards, the cartels use booby traps to secure the marijuana gardens—shot guns with trip lines carefully hidden and positioned to shoot an unknowing victim in the face. Families that may have once worried about stumbling across a bear while hiking through Sequoia are now threatened by the hidden dangers of armed guards and booby traps,” Whitehouse said.
Drug cultivation also causes extensive environmental damage and threatens the health of local residents: “Pollution from fertilizer and pesticide runoff kills native fish and enters the watershed and water supply of nearby communities like Three Rivers. Growers also poach wildlife. Trash left behind is a fire hazard.”
NPCA is seeking an additional $600 million annually to address the parks’ chronic funding shortfalls, and warned today that any across-the-board cuts imposed by Congress, as discussed in the national media recently, would further hinder efforts by the National Park Service to combat drug trafficking in the parks.
“Until Congress and the administration address the parks’ critical funding needs, the safety of rangers and visitors, and the preservation of our heritage, will remain at risk,” said Whitehouse.
# # #
