HERMON – Trudging along a narrow path, stepping over and sometimes through low-lying branches, five men wound their way through the woods Wednesday in search of a well-hidden and illegal crop.

Tipped off that a small marijuana-growing operation could be found in the area, not far from the railroad tracks, members of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department searched on the ground and from the air for the grow site.

They found the plants, some of them taller than the deputies, in a small clearing about a quarter-mile in from Route 2 and the tracks on property owned by the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., formerly the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad.

Whether it’s grown in secluded wooded areas or in homes, marijuana continues to be a major drug problem in the state, one that can lead to other drug use, authorities said.

“It’s a leading drug next to alcohol that is used and abused in the state,” Roy McKinney, director of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said Wednesday.

So far this year, Maine law enforcement agencies have reported removing 6,128 marijuana plants statewide, and 83 arrests were made in connection with those seizures, not including Wednesday’s activities.

Penobscot County investigators have been working several weeks on local interdictions and expect to keep at it for several more weeks, although they know they are fighting a never-ending battle.

“We don’t even make a dent in what they’re growing,” Sgt. Bill Birch said, after pulling up plant after plant, pounding off the earth around the roots and then stacking the plants.

By Wednesday evening, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department had removed 208 plants – 30 from Hermon and the rest from undisclosed locations in the county.

Another raid was planned for later in the afternoon.

In Hermon, the plants were well pruned, fed and watered.

“Someone spent some time on this,” Deputy Garrit McKee said, assessing the area where the plants, some in buckets and others in wood frames, were growing.

Birch trees had been knocked down to clear the canopy to allow the sun in to help the illegal plants flourish.

Inside one white bucket was other evidence that the plants were tended with care. Containers of chemicals to eliminate pesky snails, slugs and other bugs spilled out of the bucket, along with mothballs apparently used to fend off deer.

Wire fencing has been rolled up and stored nearby.

The county law enforcement officers, including Birch, Lt. Keith Hotaling, Deputy Chief Troy Morton and Deputies Josh Tibbetts and Doug Smith, found the growth earlier in the day, locating the site with help from a helicopter from the Maine Army National Guard.

They checked for any booby traps or other dangers. Last year, they found a menacing dog tied up near a grow site in Charleston.

The investigators may never learn who grew the plants on the railroad land, and that’s not unusual.

“It’s not an easy task to connect an individual with a cultivation site,” MDEA’s McKinney said.

Regardless of the size of the plots, any interdiction helps, he said, adding that healthy marijuana plants can produce a half-pound of marijuana.

On the street, a pound of marijuana sells for $1,500 to $3,000, depending on the quality, or roughly $22,500 to $45,000 for the plants the Penobscot County deputies seized in Hermon.

Compared to what’s out there, it may not seem like much, but McKinney saw it as 30 fewer plants reaching Maine communities, and particularly young people.

“That’s a significant impact,” McKinney said.