Pot foperation hidden in wildlife area destroyed by authorities
By Cory Dellenbach, Leader reporter
The Navarino Wildlife Area was home to one of the largest organized drug grows in Wisconsin, local, state and federal authorities said Wednesday.
Nearly 80 law enforcement officials from nine agencies gathered Tuesday morning to destroy about 8,000 marijuana plants from 12 grow sites at the southern edge of Shawano County.
Shawano County Sheriff Randy Wright said he didn?t have an exact estimate how many pounds or money the plants would have made, but knows it was a large amount.
?We know it?s in the millions of dollars,? Wright said. ?Millions of dollars.?
The find in Navarino marks the second large marijuana grow site found in the county in the last two years.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regional enforcement leader Bryon Goetsch said the sites equaled about five acres in size.
?It?s a very significant grow, even on a federal level,? said Drug Enforcement Administration agent Chris Hackbarth out of the Green Bay office. ?We are seeing more in the Midwest. Traditionally, it?s been more in the west in California and other western states, but we are seeing a lot more of this in the Midwest.?
Wright noted that the grow site had been abandoned for about 2-1/2 weeks. The sites were discovered by a hunter in the area about two weeks ago, but it?s not known why the sites were abandoned at roughly the same time.
When asked why the sheriff?s department took two weeks to clear the area, Wright responded: ?We did work on some things in the meantime.? He did not go into further detail.
http://www.shawanoleader.com/articles/2009/10/15/news/news2.txt
