By Robert Townsend 
Across California, many private landowners are discovering that trespassing "gardeners," almost all of them armed, are using the landowners' property for illicit marijuana grows. Some of the landowners choose to ignore the problem, some wait for authorities to handle things, and others take action themselves.
Santa Rosa resident Carol Vellutini rounded up a small posse of armed men and set out on a mission – to remove some unwanted trash from her Guerneville property. The 68 year-old great-grandmother had stumbled onto an illicit marijuana grow site on her 300-acre property in Sonoma County. So, she gathered a group of friends – all armed – and pulled the plants, destroyed the cultivators’ campsite, and cleaned up the soda cans, tuna tins, and other garbage left behind by the trespassers.
Regardless of how the landowners deal with the issue, certain factors are common among them: their lifestyles are altered, their safety is compromised, wildlife gets killed and their land is polluted. Furthermore, poisons and other chemicals are carried away by water sources and infiltrate other areas.
The issue of trespass grows is timely and important. The debate of marijuana legalization in California continues from all levels of the populace. This article is not intended to add weight to any side of that argument. Instead, it is intended to be used as an information tool that sheds light on possible areas of illegal marijuana cultivation that might not be widely known with the public.
