Police do annual marijuana harvest in Fulton, Montgomery counties

Police took to ATV's and helicopters last week to root out what authorities say is one of the biggest cash crops in New York state: marijuana.

Gloversville police Capt. James Lorenzoni said officers confiscated as many as 275 plants grown by unknown persons in secluded areas of Fulton, Montgomery and Hamilton counties.

Following what local farmers have said was a decent growing season, with plenty of warmth and moisture, some of the plants reached as high as 14 feet, police said.

"Some of them were like small trees," Lorenzoni said.

Officers found gardens of pot from the air in the western Montgomery County town of Minden, county Undersheriff Jeffery T. Smith said, though it was clear somebody tried hard to hide it.

"These were buried deep, deep in the woods," Smith said.

The Minden site was one of three police found in Montgomery County, Smith said.

Lorenzoni said the Gloversville department coordinates the annual "marijuana eradication effort" in the three counties, making use of skilled officers from police departments in Gloversville and Johnstown, deputies from Fulton, Montgomery and Hamilton county sheriff departments, state police, state forest rangers and pilots from the Army National Guard Aviation Unit in Latham.

From the air, Lorenzoni said the cannabis plants are easily visible.

"It really doesn't matter if it's hidden in other vegetation, cornfields or swamps," Lorenzoni said. "It sticks out so well when you're up in the air that it's really like a beacon."

It's never clear how deep police cut into the local marijuana growing operations each year through such efforts, Lorenzoni said.

"Some years, we make a significant impact, and other years, we just barely scratch the surface. But it's still something we do every year, regardless of the success or lack of success," Lorenzoni said.

No arrests were made as a result of the findings, officials said.