(AP Image)

ROWLAND HEIGHTS (CNS) – A small enclave of marijuana plants was found this morning by detectives in the hills above Pathfinder Regional Community Park, authorities said. A tip from employees with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department‘s Aero Bureau led to the discovery in the unincorporated area of Rowland Heights, Lt. Nick Tippings of the Sheriff’s Department’s Narcotics Bureau said.

Personnel from the Marijuana Eradication Team, or MET, spotted the marijuana in “various stages of growth” when they hiked the area today, Tippings said. The plants were nestled on a hillside between the park and a residential neighborhood unlike previous discoveries, which were in areas easily accessible to the public, according to Tippings.

MET members as well as the United States Forest Service, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting and the Drug Enforcement Administration work together every year to locate areas where marijuana is illegally grown and work together to remove it and the waste used to fertilize the plants, Tippings said.

Illegal pesticides and fertilizers that are hazardous to the environment often are used to grow marijuana, he said.