SALT LAKE CITY -- Officials have found thousands of massive marijuana plants near a canyon south of Cedar City, Utah.Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower said hunters reported Friday that they had seen pot plants in the area. The Sheriff's Office sent sniper crews in and scouted the area for 36 hours to see if they could find any activity before finally moving in Wednesday.That's when officers located at least two major grow areas comprised of what spokesman Jody Edwards called: "very healthy, tall, robust marijuana plants," some of which are 6 to 8 feet tall with shafts about 2 inches in diameter. Edwards estimated there were more than 3,000 plants.Edwards said it is clear that whoever grew the pot used a hybrid seed that allows marijuana to thrive, even in weather not normally conducive to the plant's growth.The canyon area, at about 7,500 feet elevation, gets cool at night, Edwards said, adding that marijuana typically needs hot, humid weather at lower altitudes to flourish.The pot farm find appears to be part of a recent trend in the southern Utah area, but officials could not say whether this bust was related to others.Other incidents of marijuana discoveries in Utah over the last year include:-- 7,500 plants, estimated at $9 million in Washington County's Pine Valley after some hikers reported seeing them,-- 210 pounds of pot seized by the Utah Highway Patrol in a traffic stop near Monticello in San Juan County,-- Five Mexican nationals arrested in Kane County and indicted for drug trafficking, cash smuggling and illegal possession of firearms after authorities found $49,000, five guns and a large bag of pot,-- 30 vacuum-packed bundles of marijuana, totaling 37 pounds at St. George Airport, and-- Washington County authorities found 1,000 marijuana plants -- some reportedly as tall as 15 feet -- worth as much as $5 million growing in hills west of New Harmony and the Dixie National Forest after hunters reported having see the plot.(E-mail Steve Gehrke at sgehrke(at)sltrib.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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