Pot Plantation In Bandelier Survives Las Conchas Fire

Amid the thousands of acres of vaporized trees and blackened vegetation sat an island of green — a 5,000-plant marijuana plantation that survived both this summer’s massive Las Conchas Fire and catastrophic flooding that followed.

The 6- to 10-foot-tall marijuana plants were grown in Bandelier National Monument by unknown growers, who remain at large and who officials believe battled the fire to protect their plants.

But, ultimately, the damage to Bandelier caused by the post-fire flooding led authorities to the plants, valued at $5 million.

The marijuana plantation was spotted Aug. 23 during an aerial surveillance of Bandelier to check on the widespread flooding damage in the area, according to National Park Service spokesman James Doyle.

After the Las Conchas Fire, stormwater overflowed the Frijoles Creek in Frijoles Canyon through Bandelier, carrying mud, ash, logs and rocks through picnic and parking areas. Employees fled Frijoles Canyon on Aug. 22 under threat of more rain.

Doyle said it appears that those who tended to the marijuana might have fought the fire themselves.

“The (Las Conchas) Fire line went up to the grow,” Doyle said.

Doyle called the plantation an elaborate cultivation operation that had three separate plots of plants. He said the plants were ready for harvest, and some already had been.

On Thursday multiple agencies including the National Park Service Special Event and Tactics Team, which is made up of park personnel from eight different states; the New Mexico National Guard; Los Alamos Police and Fire Departments; and the Drug Enforcement Administration responded to the area.

The 5,000 marijuana plants, which survived a fire that burned more than 150,000 acres of New Mexico wildland, were pulled from their roots Thursday and taken by Black Hawk helicopter to an undisclosed area and burned.