Smokejumpers parachuting into the mountains of southern Oregon to fight lightning-sparked fires found themselves landing in the middle of a marijuana grow operation.

They came upon the site in the Applegate area of Jackson County. Over 1,500 marijuana plants were growing in a remote region of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest along with dozens of holes that had been dug for future planting and pipes for watering the plants.

"They had no idea they were dropping into a marijuana garden," Jackson County Sheriff's spokesperson Andrea Carlson told reporters. 

Upon their discovery the team of smokejumpers contacted local authorities who showed up and confiscated all of the plants along with two guns that were found nearby. According to reports the grow operation is believed to be linked to an unknown Mexican drug cartel, with many cartels having a history of cultivating marijuana in the area.

The Sheriff's office said that it is unusual to come across pot gardens so early in the year, as the growing season for marijuana tends to be later on in the summer. Most of the plants were still very young and underdeveloped, according to authorities.

"These were starter kits, so to speak," Carlson said. "These plants were going to be harvested in late summer or early fall."

The area near where the marijuana was growing was also littered with a substantial amount of trash, leading investigators to believe that people had been staying nearby to keep a watch over the plants. The Sheriff's office has said that it is assembling a team of volunteers to remove the garbage next week.

The amount of time that authorities in Oregon spend attending to marijuana growth and distribution issues in relation to Mexican drug cartels has soared over recent years, though officials say that for the most part they find themselves dealing with fairly low-level members of these gangs and have not had much success in infiltrating the higher-level members who are organizing and financing the marijuana grow efforts.

According to a reports from Oregon Live, "Mexico's drug gangs continue to bedevil authorities in Oregon. Investigators complain that they frequently pick off bottom rungs of the drug enterprises, mostly growers and those who supply them with food and fertilizer, but have had no luck reaching the kingpins who finance the operations."