The fallout from pot farm eradications in the form of toxic trash left behind is rapidly becoming a national problem, national forest officials say.

In the Sequoia National Forest, which has had more law enforcement eradications of drug cartel-grown marijuana plants this year than any other national forest, a team made up of Forest Service law enforcement officers assisted by fire and recreation personnel have recently been cleaning up the dangerous and poisonous remnants left behind by the marijuana-growing organizations.

During one such operation last week, members of Team Wolf (California National Guard, Counter Drug Unit) and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter with flight crew assisted with transporting several tons of trash associated with marijuana cultivation from remote areas of the forest. Items included pesticides, fertilizers, plastic irrigation pipe, and camping gear.

A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter assists with cleaning up the toxic mess left behind by Mexican drug cartel marijuana growers that use National Forest lands to secretly grow their crops.

Officers say the residual effects from marijuana cultivation on public lands is doing great damage to the environment. Marijuana growers leave behind thousands of pounds of fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides, trash and irrigation piping which seriously degrades water quality in forest creeks and downstream.

According to law enforcement officers, during the cleanup effort, they found containers of zinc phosphide, a highly toxic controlled pesticide used to kill rodents, and Malathion. They say there still remain 40 more sites with huge quantities of garbage and toxic pesticide material scattered throughout the forest, some dating back to 1999.

On a recent clean-up mission near Cedar Creek Campground, it took a full day to complete trash removal using a 12-person crew, assisted by helicopter air support. The trash generated at one of these sites can be enough to fill a three-ton stakeside truck.

Last week, despite rain, snow and strong winds, the crews were able to clean up 11 plantation sites that were part of the 2003 and 2004 marijuana eradication season. U.S. Forest Service firefighting crews assisted in the cleanup efforts, including the Fulton Hotshots, Rincon, Breckenridge and Democrat fire crews, and recreation personnel.

Besides serious environmental impacts, officers say public encounters with plantations and growers are on the rise. There have been nine documented encounters on forest lands this year.

"Fortunately, none resulted in violence," said Sequoia National Forest spokesperson Margie Clack.

During 2003-2004, the Sequoia National Forest has seen a major increase in marijuana plantations run by Mexican drug traffickers. As a result of investigative efforts involving the Kern and Tulare County Sheriff's Department, and the U.S. Forest Service, a total of 22 people, including mid to upper level cartel members, were arrested in 2004 on various charges related to marijuana cultivation in the forest areas.

In November, Gerardo Arreola Avalos, Florin Arreola Avalos, and Hilario Villasenor, whom the Forest Service says are three upper-level members of a major drug organization, were convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for their involvement in cultivation on the Greenhorn Ranger District, according to the Forest Service. Other arrests led to sentences ranging from county jail time to incarceration in the state prison system.

In 2004 the Sequoia National Forest was "number one" in the nation for marijuana cultivation. The Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, which usually leads the nation, was second.