Ecotopia

SANTA CRUZ (KPIX) – Three men caught smuggling succulent plants along the north coast in Mendocino and Humboldt counties have been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $10,000 fines, state wildlife officials announced Tuesday.

Liu Fengxia, 37, of China, and Tae-Hun Kim, 52, and Tae-Hyun Kim, 46, both from Korea, each pleaded guilty to two felonies and other misdemeanor charges and were handed a sentence of three years and eight months in state prison and a $10,000 fine each.

Judge John T. Feeney suspended the prison sentences with the conditions that the defendants are prohibited from re-entering the United States without prior authorization of the federal government and state courts, and prohibited from entering any local, state or national park.

The succulent plants at the center of the investigation are called Dudleyas. They grow in unique niches close to the coastline, typically on cliffsides immediately adjacent to the water.

Wildlife officials said the poachers had a network of buyers in Korea and China, where Dudleya are valued as a trendy houseplant usually being sold on the black market for $40 to $50 each.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/06/12/rare-succulent-plant-smugglers-sentence-to-prison/

Toxic Chemicals Killing California Wildlife At Illegal Marijuana Grows

LASSEN NATIONAL FOREST (KPIX 5) — It’s a massive crime scene, deep in Lassen National Forest. Through dense ground cover and brutal terrain, federal agents are making their way to what might well qualify as an industrial-scale farm operation. There are living quarters, kitchens, bathrooms and trash dumps, all for the purpose of growing a lot of marijuana.

“This one was in excess of 15,000 plants,” said Stephen Frick, a special agent with the U.S. Forest Service. A plant count that high requires multiple plots, across several miles, fed by an endless network of pipes, all drawing right from natural waterways. Scattered over all of this, there are the chemicals. In every single direction there are fertilizers, poisons, and insecticides.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/09/28/toxic-chemicals-california-wildlife-marijuana-grows/