22-acre pot grow found during Waldo Canyon fire

Firefighters battling the Waldo Canyon wildfire west of Colorado Springs in late June uncovered a marijuana grow in the Pike National Forest that had a living area, dams and irrigation lines.

The announcement Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office said 7,500 marijuana plants with an estimated $15 million street value were found on a 22-acre site in the Sand Gulch Area above U.S. 24.

Steve Segin, a spokesman with the U.S. Forest Service, said there are no suspects yet and the marijuana discovery wasn’t revealed earlier because the case was under investigation.

Segin said some of the plants were destroyed by the fire that killed two people and destroyed 350 homes in Colorado Springs, and that U.S. Forest Service law enforcement removed the remaining plants.

It’s presently unclear, said Segin, if the Waldo grow involves the same Mexican drug cartel implicated in last week’s bust on private land near the San Isabel National Forest in Pueblo County. The Waldo grow is about half the size of Pueblo County’s.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh said he and U.S. attorneys in other states are teaming with federal, state and local agencies in “Operation Mountain Sweep” to target illegal marijuana grows on or near public land.

Walsh said the number of illegal grows has increased, especially in the West, with 16 raids on public lands since 2009. “Operation Mountain Sweep,” said Walsh, will heighten enforcement, surveillance and investigation of illegal grows.

Segin advised residents on how they can help authorities spot illegal grows.

“(Look for) a camp that seems out of place, as well as irrigation,” he said. “You want to just go ahead and get out of the area immediately. You want to try and get an idea of where it is, get yourself out of there, don’t make any contact with any individual and report it to law enforcement.”

Read last week’s story about the largest illegal marijuana grow in Pueblo County history.