A U.S. Forest Service employee died accidentally today while helping to remove a marijuana garden south of Unity in eastern Oregon, the Forest Service reported.
The Baker County Narcotics Team was tackling a marijuana garden about 10:30 a.m. in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest when a dead tree fell and hit the employee.
Efforts were made to revive the man, who was not identified. But he died before a Life Flight Network helicopter could evacuate him.
The marijuana garden was about three miles past the end of a forest road near the west fork of Bull Run Creek, said Judy Wing, a Forest Service spokeswoman.
Forest Service crews often assist in marijuana eradication, she said, pulling out plants, gathering up garbage and assessing the environmental damage caused by the operations.
The accident is under investigation by federal, state and local authorities.
