Thirsty pot crops threaten NM forests, boost fire danger

As New Mexico heads toward a potentially devastating fire season, there’s a threat to to the state’s public lands that may come as a surprise. People are illegally growing marijuana, hiding the plants deep within national forests and public lands. The plants are stealing precious water the state desperately needs. The growers are using extensive watering systems. “The way they get the water here in the Southwest is they typically tap into streams and other water sources that may be out there in the national forest,” said Robin Poague, special agent in charge at the U.S. Forest Service in Albuquerque. For example: a group of growers tapped into a stream in the Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier National Monument two and a half years ago to feed 10,000 plants worth an estimated $10 million. They laid at least a quarter mile of tubing from the stream to a huge marijuana plantation growing in Bandelier. “It can be miles. Sometimes they use a gravity-fed system so the water flows downhill into the grow,” Poague told KRQE News 13. “Other times we’ve seen them use pumps out there as well to pump the water up a hill to water the plants.” Growers also build tanks for the water, which can hold tens of thousands of gallons. Authorities found a holding tank next to the grow site in Bandelier. “We think they were filling this with water and then using it to water from,” Superintendent Jason Lott said when authorities busted the grow in 2011...more

 So here's a National Monument in northern NM where they found 10,000 marijuana plants, a quarter mile of pipe and a water tank, and Udall & Heinrich say we can put a National Monument 5 miles from the border with Mexico and that it will not be a threat to public safety.  I decided to do a little research and its even worse than I thought - they had even built a dam.  This is from the 9/8/2011 edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican:

...They dammed up a portion of the creek. They cut down some trees and built simple, log living quarters and a place to dry their crop. They planted more than 9,000 marijuana seedlings. Without leaving a trail, they hauled in everything they needed for a healthy crop: soil, fertilizer, pesticides, hundreds of feet of hose. At some point, it appears they poached a cow for some fresh steaks, said Jason Lott, Bandelier's superintendent. Their plants survived the Las Conchas blaze in June, New Mexico's largest fire to date. By the time their pot farm was spotted Aug. 23., the plants were 6 feet to 10 feet tall and worth an estimated $10 million, said Lott. Agents raided the isolated pot farm on Sept. 1 but captured no suspects. Two men had been sighted earlier, according to the National Park Service...Lott said investigators found three sites close together in Frijoles Canyon. Growers had built an impoundment on the upper tributaries of Frijoles Creek. After water had collected behind the hand-built dam, the growers hand-watered the plants with a hose from the impoundment...Trash, a cow carcass and the number of structures built at the site indicate the operation could have been in place at least a year, Lott said... In addition, DTO growers usually live on site through the harvest. A DTO grower, if caught, will have connections with drug cartels in Mexico.

The cartels trafficking  in humans and drugs would never use a National Monument just across the border, right?