USA – Authorities in California have discovered and destroyed thousands of illegally grown cannabis plants inside Sequoia National Park, though the growers remain unidentified.
U.S. media on August 24 quoted a statement from the National Park Service (NPS) saying that park rangers, in coordination with the California Bureau of Land Management, dismantled an illegal marijuana cultivation site spanning more than 5 hectares deep inside Sequoia National Park last weekend.
The NPS revealed that the “cannabis forest” had been discovered in a remote part of the park in 2024, but officials were unable to take immediate action at the time due to the presence of hazardous chemicals that required careful handling.
During the operation on August 21, authorities uprooted a total of 2,377 mature cannabis plants, collected nearly a ton of waste, and destroyed campsites and irrigation systems. Dangerous items were also found at the scene, including firearms and about 4 liters of methamidophos pesticide — a toxic chemical banned for more than 15 years.
The NPS emphasized that the operation bore signs of a large-scale drug trafficking organization, but U.S. authorities have yet to apprehend any suspects.
Rangers and NPS staff had to manually uproot the plants without heavy machinery, then use helicopters to transport all the hazardous materials out of the rugged mountain terrain.
Illegal marijuana cultivation in the area has caused severe damage to the national park’s ecosystem, as nearby streams were diverted to irrigate the plants. Each cannabis plant consumes 22–30 liters of water per day, depleting natural water sources, while pesticides can seep into household and irrigation water supplies.
The suspects also built terraces on hillsides, dug a large water reservoir, and illegally cleared more than 3 km of trails. Rangers additionally discovered signs of wildlife poaching.
Sequoia National Park is located in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and is the second-oldest national park in the United States. In 2024, more than 1.3 million visitors came to explore the area.
Sequoia’s most famous attractions include Mount Whitney—the highest peak in the contiguous 48 U.S. states, excluding Alaska and Hawaii—as well as vast groves of giant sequoias stretching across thousands of hectares.