Hello all,

I was recently asked to help law enforcement with a marijuana clean-up in Clear Creek which is located in Central California. Clear Creek was an awesome experience, especially because not many people are allowed to go into the management area due to the naturally occurring high levels of asbestos.

From Fort Ord (Monterey Bay) it took about 3 hours to reach the gate to Clear Creek, and the road leading up to it had not been well maintained which made for a rough ride. We finally made it, however, and the BLM Ranger I was riding with got his gear ready as we waited for the rest of the team to show up. There were three clean up sites that had already had the marijuana removed but our job was to remove tubing (used for irrigation) and trash from the camp.

The rest of the team showed up, including another BLM range and a Department of Fish and Wildlife officer. Our team leader handed us a packet with information on how to execute the clean up; it was surreal to be involved in a project like this even though I am not a member of law enforcement.

After receiving our assignments, we proceeded to the opening of the grow site and waited for the helicopter, or “bird” as they called it, to show up. Once the rangers established communication with the bird, they dropped two more army personnel to assist with the clean up. Watching a helicopter land in a very small clearing like that was a really cool sight to see.

The trail was steep and our progress was slow-going as we scrambled down the trail to the heart of the site. I was required to stay behind everyone else, because I was the only person without a gun. They had done a flyby the previous day and hadn’t spotted anyone, so I wasn’t too worried about it anyways. We finally reached the grow site, and there was trash everywhere: cans, toilet paper, razors, ramen noodles, plastic…the list could go on and on. After I gathered the trash, the helicopter dropped two nets to collect it (this is the way the trash had to be removed due to the remoteness). This whole process was a rather shocking experience: the helicopter gets really low, its wind blows everything into your face, your hat flies off, and you feel like the “bird” and/or the nets are gonna fall right on top of you. Thankfully, they didn’t fall on top of us, and we quickly filled the nets with all the trash, and I learned how to hook them to the helicopter so they could be carried off. It was a lot of work, but it was also an awesome experience.

Until the next fun adventure,
Manny