Illegal Marijuana Cultivation Receives Congressional Attention 
In September, shortly after federal agents seized thousands of marijuana plants from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Rep. George Radanovich called for a Congressional hearing to analyze the issue of marijuana cultivation on public lands. This news came just two months after Radanovich joined Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Reps. Jerry Lewis and Mary Bono in asking the National Park Service to address the problem.
Laura Whitehouse, NPCA's Central Valley Program Manager, has had an active roll in bringing this dangerous issue to public light, working with Rep. Radanovich and testifying before the committee.
The November hearing, which took place in Washington, D.C., also featured oral testimony from Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Associate Director for Visitor and Resource Protection for the National Park Service, and Allen Ishida, Supervisor for Tulare County—a gateway into Sequoia National Park.
Whitehouse's testimony focused on visitor and staff safety, resource protection, and lack of funding, revealing that in 2005, the Park Service spent $50,000 on restoration efforts for eradicated gardens alone—beyond the cost of locating and eradicating the illegal plants.
"These expenses have an adverse impact on the park’s already insufficient budget, and consequently, an adverse impact on the experiences of park visitors,” Whitehouse said. “Rangers, who should be available to enhance the visitor’s experience with educational or interpretive information, are elsewhere in search of these illegal marijuana gardens."
NPCA has asked Congress to appropriate $600 million to address the Park System’s funding shortfall, noting that any across-the-board cuts imposed by Congress would further hinder efforts to stop drug-trafficking.
