More than 10,000 marijuana plants were found at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore this week, according to Chief Ranger Mike Bremer.
The plants, some as high as 12 feet, had been growing on land that's the size of a football field. The plants have an estimated street value of $8 million, according to law enforcement estimates.
Officials declined to disclose the specific location of the area where the plants were grown and where the collected plants are being stored.
"We don't want to encourage people looking for it," said Bruce Rowe, park public information officer.
The general vicinity is under the jurisdictions of the city of Portage and the national lakeshore, Portage Police Chief Mark Becker said.
The plants were growing in a wildlife area but close enough to public areas that people could come across it, Becker said.
On Thursday, about 30 officials from the National Park Service, Burns Harbor and Portage began the three-day search-and-destroy operation.
The Lake County Sheriff's Department also assisted with its helicopter to scan the land to "get an idea of the type of problem we have," Becker said.
The plants sprouted from rich soil that's conducive to sustain large vegetation, Becker said.
The initial plan was to incinerate the plants in a furnace. But that plan changed because the quantity gathered -- five dump trucks full -- by Thursday was much greater than expected.
The plants will be burned outside after the plants dry out.
"They're stored in a secured area," Rowe said. "The plants have too much moisture in them to burn."
Other than the park's duty to remove illegal substances, Rowe said the operation is about protecting the public.
He said there have been cases, including parks in the West, in which some people have set up booby traps and other contraptions to harvest and guard the plants, posing a danger to hikers and passers-by.
"It's unlikely, but it has happened at national parks throughout the country," Rowe said.
No arrests are anticipated.
"There's nothing criminal in nature here," Becker said, "no evidence that somebody was maintaining this field."
Long as I remember The rain been coming down. Clouds of Mystery pouring Confusion on the ground. Good men through the ages, Trying to find the sun; And I wonder, Still I wonder, Who'll stop the rain.
