he two-week operation to purge the Mendocino National Forest of illicit marijuana gardens uprooted 460,000 cannabis plants and led to more than 100 arrests, US lawyer Melinda Haag said.
About 680kg of processed marijuana, 27 guns and 11 vehicles were also seized.
The 364,225-hectare forest spans six counties in a region of mountains and forests known as the Emerald
Triangle for its high concentration of marijuana farms.
Agents raided more than 50 gardens teeming with rubbish, irrigation pipes and chemicals that damage
forestland and waterways, authorities said.
"The Mendocino National Forest is under attack by drug traffickers,'' Haag said. The operation was part of an annual summer effort to eradicate marijuana from public lands across the state.
Six sheriff's departments, the state anti-drugs bureau and at least half-a-dozen federal agencies took part in the effort in the forest.
Spearheading the raids was Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, who in his years on the job has had to balance county medical marijuana ordinances with state law and the complete federal ban on the drug. Allman said none of the gardens raided showed any sign of being used to grow medical marijua
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