Area above Blue Ridge buzzing with law enforcement activity

SPRINGVILLE — One month after State and federal agents destroyed more than 78,000 marijuana plants — whose crop would have yielded more than $314 million in sales — near the 35000 block of Yokohl Valley Drive, a flurry of activity has returned, this time on Blue Ridge above Springville.

“There’s something going on, we just don’t know what it is,” Jeff Parker said today from his cabin site on Blue Ridge. “There’s gotta be a big bust going down soon. There’s a lot of activity. This morning we saw helicopters flying around. Every day I check the news to see what is going on — nothing has been on any of the news.”

Parker said he was on the way down the mountain on Monday when he noticed two forest rangers in the middle of the road near a one-lane bridge on Blue Ridge Road. Two more rangers were parked near the Yokohl Valley turnoff.

“When I got near Norris Ranch, two forestry service trucks came barrelling down,” he said.

Others in the area echoed Parker, saying they have seen a lot of law enforcement and helicopters in the area and guessed that it may be related to illegal drug crops, or a search for a missing person.

Calls to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, Springville Fire Department and to the Western Divide Ranger District were referred to the Joint Information Center for the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, but calls were not returned as of this evening.

Parker said he has seen local, state and federal agents in the area.

Tulare County Sheriff’s yellow investigative boundary tape could be seen near a dirt road approximately four miles from the Blue Ridge towers. While several law enforcement officers appeared to be setting up a communication base under a white canopy, other law enforcement officers continued to arrive — by the truckload, dressed in camouflage and carrying weapons.

A media release on Wednesday by the Joint Information Center contained information about reclamation and cleanup for a marijuana grow site in the same general area.

“It’s a shame that so much drug activity is ruining the normal tranquility of Blue Ridge,” Parker said. “Last year it was methamphetamine, now this. Usually it is just you and the foxes and the bears and the quail. Now we’re sharing the mountain with drug crops.”

-- Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1047 or eavila@portervillerecorder.com.