About a quarter mile of tubing was discovered to be taking water from a feeder creek along the west branch of the Feather River to the grow site, according to Sgt. Marty Rolph with Butte County Sheriff's Department. The tubing was buried under dirt in an attempt to hide it from hikers
The department, along with U.S. Forest Services, discovered the site but they did not find any suspects nearby. The team did determine the site is related to the Coon Creek marijuana grow site that was discovered earlier this month. There, one suspect was taken into custody and a total of 9,251 marijuana plants were seized.
The site discovered this week was grown within manzanita bushes to avoid detection by the sheriff’s helicopter, but the department said its water supply appeared to be dwindling and efforts by growers to make water reservoirs proved fruitless. During the department’s raid, they said almost no water was left in the feeder creek.
