ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Authorities uprooted about $35 million worth of marijuana plants from dozens of sites in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa on Friday, sheriff's officials said.

A multi-agency task force took the plants from pre-identified marijuana grows, Capt. Ralph Ornelas of the sheriff's Narcotics Bureau said in a written statement.

"The team simultaneously entered three mountainous canyons," Ornelas said.

"The team eradicated a total of 17,493 illicit marijuana plants from public lands," he added. "The sites included extensive irrigation systems and campsites."

No arrested were made during the operation, sheriff's officials said.

In addition to the pot, about 950 pounds of refuse was removed from the marijuana gardens, Ornelas said. It included hazardous chemical fertilizers, pesticides, spraying equipment, propane tanks, food and live ammunition, authorities said.

One extensive grow site was found near Rincon Road, "and abutted a popular local fishing and hiking recreation area where a number of families were currently swimming and camping," Ornelas said.

Sheriff's officials warned the public to be wary of medical marijuana grows on public lands.

"Suspects often use firearms and even bobby traps to guard their plants from law enforcement and competing criminal elements," Ornelas said. "Additionally, many of the fertilizers and pesticides encountered in illicit farming
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operations are highly toxic to people and may contaminate nearby water sources."

Officials repaired damage to three streams, which had been artificially dammed, and pulled out extensive irrigation systems that were depriving water from native plants and animals to supply the marijuana plants.

Friday's operation involved the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Since May, authorities have removed more than 126,000 marijuana plants from public lands in Los Angeles County valued at more than $253 million, officials said.

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