Between 35,000 and 40,000 marijuana plants have been uncovered over the past month in sparsely populated Alpine County in the Sierra Nevada, authorities said.

Undersheriff Robert Levy said the plants, with a total estimated street value of $30 million, were part of a large-scale operation and appeared to be the work of a Mexican cartel. There was evidence laborers were camping out while tending to the plants, he said.

"The cartels have been all over California, Nevada and Utah. It's just new to Alpine County," Levy told the Record-Courier in Gardnerville, Nev. "This was a huge, huge organized grow with thousands of plants at a time."

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