Unwelcome Guests

Beware … your farm's large acreage might be inviting to unwelcome guests. This is the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report, I'm KayDee Gilkey. Today's report next.

The Northwest’s high quality soil which makes our agriculture so productive is also conducive to cultivating higher quality, and therefore more expensive, marijuana. Drug trafficking organizations have now found it easier, less dangerous, and more profitable to grow closer to their market in the Pacific Northwest, especially in rural areas.

KR Catlin, Homeland Security Planner for the Yakima Valley Office of Emergency Management, shares the challenges of patrolling and monitoring large tracts of land owned by multiple jurisdictions.

Catlin: "Eastern Washington offers the narco-criminals a vast rural region of private agricultural, tribal, state and federal lands. These mostly unpatrolled sanctuaries are the home of undermanned/ underfunded county and tribal law enforcement agencies. With in Yakima County alone there are 15 municipal jurisdiction, eight counties on the border, one sovereign nation, 806 square miles owned by Feds and 363 square miles owned by state. All this makes for an abundance of jurisdictionally hazy border lands to set up grow operations.”

Catlin says a property owner’s discovery of any unfamiliar fertilizer, garden hoses,camouflage netting, "Keep Out" signs, guard dogs or unusual structures can indicate the presence of a marijuana grow operation. He urges property owners NOT to investigate any suspicious activity but rather to report it immediately to local or state law authorities.

I'm KayDee Gilkey on Northwest Ag Info Net.