it's mostly foreigners & cartels. they are finally getting more resources there and coming across old grows. the FS ecologists are definitely estimating everything to the highest degree they can, I would too
as a whole the industry is going away from the bullshyt chemicals - switching from chemicals to naturally occurring fungi to deal with the worst cannabis problems for example. tons of outdoor growers are ditching chemical fertilizers for organic soil bringing back a biodynamic method popularized by a 1950s scientist
this article while bringing up a problem doesn't address why it exists or how to get it to stop i.e. the more prohibition the more shady invasive/damaging guerrilla operations
it's also conflating issues. The nastiest systemics that can 'kill a bear' are used at tiny amounts and not sitting in retention ponds, those are basic fertilizers that get dumped at much higher rates by the food industry. Obviously not in national forests, but nonetheless this is a one sided article from reuters using forest service workers as a source. From a good friend on a ground in that county it is a problem, he said a group from Asia that I'm blanking on is really fukking stuff up wherever they go, killing birds and shyt, but as a whole it's getting better while this article would have you think it's worse.
just presenting a slightly different viewpoint than this one-sided article
