HAYWARD — Bay Area authorities removed approximately 500 marijuana plants from an East Bay regional park Friday after coming upon it during a routine patrol earlier this week.

The East Bay Regional Parks police said they worked with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to remove approximately 2,000 pounds of marijuana from two separate places within Garin Regional Park. One site was about a quarter-acre and the other about one-tenth of an acre, regional parks police said.

Evidence also existed that about 500 additional plants were harvested in the illegal grow, police said. The removal began around 7 a.m.

The area where the marijuana was found is rugged, according to authorities, and located in remote terrain. Authorities said they removed it because of the high fire potential.

Nobody was at the site when police discovered it, and no arrests were made, police said.