Press release from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife:
July 20, 2015
CDFW, Partner Agencies Conclude Operation Yurok in Humboldt County
Marijuana Eradication Effort Focused on Misuse of Water and Habitat
Example of a pot farm as viewed from Google Earth.
Officers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recently participated in a large-scale, multi-agency operation to address the devastating effects of illegal marijuana cultivation on fish, wildlife and the environment in northern California’s watersheds. The four-day mission concluded Thursday, July 16.
Allied law enforcement agencies including the State Water Resources Control Board, Yurok Tribal Police, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and federal law enforcement teamed with CDFW wildlife officers to serve dozens of search warrants, investigate pollution and water diversion crimes, and eradicate numerous marijuana plants as part of the joint effort dubbed “Operation Yurok.”
More than 100 environmental violations of the Fish and Game Code were discovered and eight suspects were arrested. Charges are pending for additional suspects.
“This operation was about more than just the criminality of marijuana cultivation,” said Lieutenant DeWayne Little of CDFW’s Watershed Enforcement Team (WET). “At its roots, it was about protection of the environment.” Created by CDFW in the last year, WET is comprised of both law enforcement officers and biologists, whose primary mission is to take an all-encompassing approach to investigating and protecting waterways from diversion, obstructions, alteration, pollution and litter.
During this period of unprecedented drought, water conservation is gravely important. An average mature marijuana plant consumes an estimated six to 12 gallons of water per day.
“Operation Yurok” teams eradicated more than 29,000 thirsty marijuana plants from the area, which equates to hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day that will no longer be diverted and prevented from feeding the nearby Trinity River.
The Trinity River is considered by the locals to be the lifeline for many people. Water flows from the river must be great enough to sustain local drinking water needs and support successful salmon runs, which equate to a food source for the local Yurok tribe. Yurok Tribal members and other locals have expressed great concern about illegal marijuana grows in the area, due to the Trinity River’s historic low levels.
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See my earlier post about Pot Farms on Reservations, which discusses the Yurok lands.
At the conference most of the government speakers seemed oblivious to this. They assumed they were there to train the tribes and gave simplistic advice like “read the regulations” and otherwise sought to mold the tribes into the proper bureaucratic shape to be successful. One speaker advised tribal members to take a lengthy course of trainings (ICS 100 thru 800) so they can participate in oil spill response. They seemed unaware that they had waded into turbulent waters, dealing with a community that not only are suspicious and fearful, but have different cultural values and communication patterns. Like two ships passing in the night, the federal speakers cited regulations by the numbers (e.g., CFR 990) while tribal members told personal stories of pain and loss. I was reminded of treaty signing ceremonies in the 1800s, where the legalistic text, difficult reading even for educated whites, was translated (glossing over any controversial items) for the tribal representatives.
Finally, after years of egregious police brutality and hundreds of cases involving paralyzed and dead citizens (as documented by out-of-court settlements), Baltimore erupted in rioting. As the white media struggled to understand why, rather than why it took them so long or what can be done about the Baltimore PD, they seized upon an African American as their hero. Toya Graham, 
This is part of a long pattern. In the midst of ethnic tension, the white media has routinely seized upon and praised an individual of the non-white community as a positive example, a good citizen, a model black, brown, or red person.
In the mid-1800s, as Indian Removal became official government policy and quickly devolved into calls for extermination, Pocahontas was eulogized as a “good Indian”. Though she lived in the early 1600s, she was resurrected, and largely re-shaped and re-created, over two hundred years later. She was said to be “foremost in the train of those wandering children of the forest who have at different times—few, indeed, and far between—been snatched from the fangs of a barbarous idolatry, to become lambs in the fold of the Divine Shepherd.” In reality, she had been kidnapped by the white settlers of Jamestown and held for ransom. Her conversion and marriage to John Rolfe (and not John Smith, whom she detested for betraying her father) both occurred while she was imprisoned. In fact, she already had a Powhatan husband and son at the time of her capture. She died while still in captivity. Nevertheless, even today she is cast as an emblem of reconciliation rather than deceit and conflict. 
Memories of the People 