Law enforcement removed an illegal marijuana cultivation site where more than 2,000 plants were located in California's Sequoia National Park last week, officials said on Thursday. 

The National Park Service said its law enforcement rangers removed 2,377 full-grown marijuana plants and about 2,000 pounds of trash and infrastructure from a 13-acre site in Sequoia National Park. 

The rangers also located a semi-automatic pistol and several hazardous chemicals, including methamidophos, a highly toxic insecticide that was banned in the United States in 2009. 

The same cultivation site was raided last year, but it was not rehabilitated until this year due to the presence of hazardous chemicals. 

National park officials reported damage to the site, such as diverting water from a nearby creek and installing irrigation lines. Officials said a significant amount of vegetation was cleared from the site and several large pits were built to store the diverted water. 

Officials said they also found evidence of poaching activity, as well as illegal trails that spanned about two miles. 

Drug-trafficking organizations have been operating large-scale cultivation operations in and around Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, officials said. Nearly 300,000 plants with a value of about $850 million have been eradicated from the national park in the past 20 years, national park officials said. 

Sequoia National Park, located east of Visalia and in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, is home to giant sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree. Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, is on the eastern boundary of the park.