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Posted: 4:46 PM- Police on Friday found 1,000 marijuana plants worth as much as $5 million growing in a remote part of southwest Utah and the Dixie National Forest.
Some plants were 12 to 15 feet tall. A state helicopter was used to haul out some bales of the confiscated plants, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. No arrests have been made.
A hunter stumbled onto the crop in the hills west of New Harmony and alerted police. Drug officers arrived there Friday and began collecting and eradicating the plants, according to the sheriff's office.
Sheriff's Lt. Jake Adams said the plants were growing on the Dixie National Forest as well as on ground controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. The plants have a street value of $3 million to $5 million.
The cultivation was sophisticated, Adams said, with fertilizers and pesticides - indicators the growers were part of a trafficking network.
"I think this is something done by people experienced in what they're doing," Adams said.
Detectives also found clothing, food and camping gear believed to belong to the growers, Adams said. The lieutenant said detectives have identified suspects.
Anyone with information can call the sheriff's office at 435-634-5730.
Police elsewhere in southern Utah have made similar finds over the years. In May, sheriff's deputies responding to a plane crash in Grand County found $50,000 worth of marijuana plants in the Mineral Bottom along the Colorado River.
In August 2006, police arrested two people and seized 5,400 marijuana plants growing on the Barney Top Plateau a few miles northeast of Bryce Canyon.
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