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2 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Beach bacteria thresholds may tighten ... Our View: Who politicized the UCC shootings? Not Obama ... View from 100,000 feet ... Beach bacteria thresholds may tighten ... Our View: Who politicized the UCC shootings? Not Obama ... View from 100,000 feet ... MARIJUANA GROWS Growers whose pot plants span Layton Ditch in Williams say they'll work with forest group Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 8, 2015 at 5:37 PM Updated Oct 8, 2015 at 5:45 PM Cheryl Bruner, of Williams, shows where a pot farm has blocked the old Layton Ditch Trail. By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 8, 2015 at 5:37 PM Updated Oct 8, 2015 at 5:45 PM » Social News WILLIAMS — Cheryl Bruner strolls along a piece of the old Layton Ditch Trail beneath a canopy of lichen-laced white oaks and thick Ponderosa pines that part at times to offer panoramic views of the Williams Valley below. This one-time miner's ditch is so rich with history and picturesque views that Bruner and others in Williams believe it should be canonized as a state scenic trail. "It's beautiful," Bruner says. "It really is a nice example of a Southern Oregon pine-oak forest." Moments later, Bruner lays eyes on a new example of what hikers can find in the Southern Oregon forest: three white-canopied greenhouses spanning the trail with pungent green plants sprouting beneath them. A portion of the largely federal Bureau of Land Management trail crosses private lands that have become a pot farm. Now Bruner and fellow members of the Williams Community Forest Project fear the marijuana grow on the property and a lack of codified public easement could derail the trail's potential scenic status and fall out of use among the hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders who use it. "You come down the trail, it was a rude awakening," Bruner says. "It's just right in your face." But the rookie Georgia marijuana growers who are bankrolling the project say they won't let anyone's recreation plans near Williams go up in smoke. "We're not going to be the ones who dash the hopes and dreams of the Williams Community Forest Project," says Jonathan Fain, an investor and general counsel for Southern Amalgamated Development, which recently bought the property. Fain says he'll work with the community group to find a way to ensure the trail and the budding marijuana farm can co-exist. "We'll work with them so they can have their goal," Fain says. "I don't know what the reaction of (hikers) will be when they see marijuana crops. We hope it's not negative." Marijuana is just the latest economic boon ventured on the shoulders of the Layton Ditch, which is one of two ditches J.T. Layton had dug to feed his Ferris Gulch mine deemed by the federal Bureau of Land Managment as the first hydraulic mine in Southern Oregon. The first ditch was dug in the early 1860s and covered 18 miles, according to mining records. The trail traverses the path of Layton's second ditch, which covered 21 miles as it funneled water from the Williams Creek drainage to the mine, according to mining and Layton estate records. When mining proved less valuable than farming, the ditch delivered irrigation water before falling out of use in the 1940s, mining and water-right records show. The BLM cleared part of the ditch for a trail that traveled in and out of federal lands, but it fell in disrepair, Bruner says. The Williams Community Forest Project has been clearing swaths of the trail for use in recent years, and use has increased, she says. The Williams Valley came onto the radar of Fain and other Atlantans last year when friends from California informed them that Oregon could be a place to make money in the marijuana business if the state voted to allow recreational use of marijuana, which it did last November. "We figured we'd try to get in on the ground floor," says Fain, who says the co-investors in the liability-limited corporation are Atlanta area professionals not quite wealthy enough to quit their day jobs to grow marijuana. Fain says they purchased the 320 acres less than two months ago and hired crews recently to install the three temporary greenhouses on flat land that, unbeknownst to Fain, just happened to be along the ditch trail. Bruner says Williams residents discovered the greenhouses along the trail about three weeks ago, and this week sent Southern Amalgamated a letter asking to negotiate an easement. Fain says an easement in perpetuity could be more than they are willing to do, but there are options. The three greenhouses represent what Fain called their "trial run" and that it's possible that they could move the greenhouses elsewhere on the property and possibly even restore that portion of the ditch. Fain says other options include a trail reroute and even adding fencing in case the grow might accidentally offend or frighten trail-users. "We don't know how many people it's going to freak out to see marijuana fields growing," he says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 8, 2015 at 5:37 PM Updated Oct 8, 2015 at 5:45 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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