In a matter of minutes our Pavehawk helicopter raced from Moffett Field across salt flats and marshes of the south bay, cut through the edge of the ‘Silicon Valley’ and had reached vast open lands, filled with valley oaks and brushy hillsides. Our flight with California’s Air National Guard took less than an hour and in that short time we would pass over not only state parks, but county and federally protected areas. It is here where drug cartels have sent their men, drug wardens of a growing marijuana problem on our public land.

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Take these numbers in to account…about 75 percent of the marijuana seized in 2010 by California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (or CAMP) was grown on public lands, up from about 40 percent in 2001 when the overall take was just 313,776 plants statewide. Last year that state total of plants seized spiked to 4.4 million and the numbers don’t lie, producing illegal pot outdoors in the United States is a growing agribusiness and officials say the plants seized in California in 2009 would sell wholesale for $17.8 billion. Make no mistake…this is a massive cash crop being grown on your land and it can be found well beyond California, with recent busts in Wisconsin, Utah and in New York.

Before we reach the garden found just yesterday afternoon, we approach a landing site that looks like we’ve stepped right into an Eastwood western. Wedged into a rust-colored canyon, there’s a flat, rocky, open area that sits in an abandoned old west ghost mining town called New Idria. The buildings now collapsing with age and the area likely a brownfield site from the quicksilver mining that began during California’s gold rush. Here we meet law enforcement from the California State Department of Justice and the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office. They spotted the garden not far away while flying with the guard just yesterday and some of their men have already headed in on ATV and by foot.

After leaving some gear on the ground to give us more room and lower the weight, we take off and also head to the grow site. It is a short flight and once a visual is made with the men on the ground and we circle the area to ensure there are no obstructions, the crew from California’s Air National Guard hovers the 64-foot, 16,000 pound helo about 100 feet above the ground. Now…as one airman puts it….”The ability for us to be able to move local law enforcement vertically directly to and from the garden really greatly enhances their capability and really improves their ability to do their job.”
And what a job these men have to do.

The first objective is to clear and secure the area, which means finding trails and climbing through dense prickly brush. Once that tough job has been completed, I latch in with a guard member from above, as my feet dangle out the side door. The hoist is tightened and we are hanging now outside the helicopter as we begin the descent down into the garden. Below the wind from the blades beats the brush back and the bright green marijuana plants are plastered into the red clay soil. Within seconds we touch down and I step out of the harness. My guard now heads back up to bring down Fox Photographer Eric Barnes and eventually producer Chris Spinder. As I hold a small camera to get pictures for this report, the wind whipped by the help sprays dirt and sand that feels like needles against the bare skin and the counter drug team takes cover.

Eventually we all touch down and we see the garden from the ground for the first time as the air crew heads back to the landing zone. Local law enforcement is already at work. There are no booby traps thankfully and the men who ran this illegal field have fled the area. Not only are these marijuana grows funded by the cartel and feeding illegal drug activity within our own borders, but the environmental damage is very clear. Illegal fertilizers can be found spread throughout the area, garbage is strewn about and a campsite which includes a propane grill has been set up. An impressive irrigation system spreads from a dammed-up spring and each marijuana plant has a running drip that has turned the tilled ground dark. This was no easy accomplishment, the hike in for these drug growers was several miles and through tough, rugged terrain. The counter drug team tells me they have found two trails in and then out to the nearest road, about 5 miles away…all the supplies came from there.

The drug team tells me to battle these dope growers and the cartels takes true cooperation between the agencies. They all are very thankful for the Air National Guard and the ability to get men into some tough locations, that would normally take hours to hike into. The Pavehawk helicopter can also hoist massive piles of marijuana out, stacked into a cargo net and then lifted to the landing zone, where it will eventually be hauled away down dirt roads. We watch the whole process from the front row, as the drug team pulls the plants out one by one, stacks them up and then latches it all the hoist when the helo returns. Up and away the dope goes, thankfully these men wont have to haul it out on their backs.

We too get a lift out, while the ground counter drug team will stay behind and finish the job. The ride up, is as amazing as the drop in. The hoist hits the ground and I step into it. I hold the microphone and do a quick report for the camera as I feel my feet lift off the ground. Up we go and eventually into the helicopter. My team follows as the blades once again beat the hillside. As I look down on the site, gone are the brilliant green spikes of the marijuana plants that stands out from the normal color of these remote hillsides. Eventually this land will once again be given back to nature, but not before taxpayers pay much of the cost of the farms that get cleaned up, sometimes as much as $1 million for a single site.

Some have argued that the environmental damage would cease and the drug war would save millions if marijuana was just legalized, but the answer isn’t so clear. The men on these remote hillsides have a different view from the middle of this war, they believe their job would only get more difficult. When you talk with them, they tell me even if legalized the cartels would still do their best to use public land and since penalties would be much less if dope was legalized, they might even become more brazen than they already have become because avoiding taxes, environmental regulations, inspections and licenses would mean big bucks. It is much more than an interesting debate….what do you think?