Pot Farm Found off Kanan in Malibu

State and national parks officials on Friday confiscated approximately 4,000 pounds of marijuana from a National Parks Service site off Kanan-Dume Road in Malibu. This is the second reported pot farm seizure in the Santa Monica Mountains since June. Lindsey Templeton, State Parks' Malibu Sector superintendent, said there is much more marijuana in the area.

"The Santa Monica Mountains is a very attractive area because it retains lots of water," Templeton said. "There have only been a few years that certain creeks have dried up. There is a lot of area [to grow marijuana]."

The plants were found on a National Park Service property, but State Parks assisted with the seizure because the two agencies often partner on these operations. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also assisted.

Ramirez Canyon resident Jens Holst said he could see the seizure taking place from his home. He said he saw "pick-up truck-sized bails of marijuana" taken from the area with the use of 50-foot lines attached to helicopters.

"They were in and out of there in like three hours," Holst said. "It was clockwork precision. We were in awe of the whole operation."

in a 9.6-acre section of the Santa Monica Mountains near Trancas Canyon in late June, according to the NPS.

"Marijuana cultivation is a serious and rising problem in the Santa Monica Mountains and other parklands across the country," said Woody Smeck, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, in a press release following that seizure. "The environmental damage caused by marijuana cultivation in otherwise pristine natural areas costs approximately $12,000 per acre to clean up."