Illegal marijuana production is quickly becoming a pervasive problem across the millions of acres of federally-owned lands in our Northern California area. In many cases, armed guards roam the area around these marijuana gardens in order to protect their “crop.” This situation poses a dire threat to the safety of those who innocently venture into our federal forestlands. As federal agencies remain under resourced to address this threat, I recently sent a letter with several of my colleagues to the House Committee on Natural Resources to request that the Committee hold an oversight hearing. Due to the Natural Resources Committee’s jurisdiction over the federal land management agencies, an oversight hearing is an important step to bringing marijuana production into the congressional spotlight by allowing agencies to explain their challenges in dealing with this issue and what legislative assistance is needed to help their marijuana eradication efforts.

In addition, I have requested a meeting with the land management agencies as well as the Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy to seek information on coordination efforts between these entities. It is my hope to bring these agencies together in an organized effort to crack down on marijuana gardens on our federal lands as well as the movement of Mexican drug cartels that run them. Furthermore, I will continue to do all I can to ensure that government resources are properly prioritized to allow these agencies to fully address this issue.