I mine and dredge and hold claims in Oregon. Here's a list of the agencies I need to deal with.

Federal:

BLM---Administer mining claims. File all paperwork on claims. Pay claim fees and yearly fees. File intent to hold. File proofs of labor. Maintain their own set of rules for suction dredging and decides what is a valuable mineral, etc.

Forest Service---Administer the land my claims are on. Issue Notice of Intent or Plan of Operations approval. Maintain their own set of rules for suction dredging, mining, highbanking, sluicing and panning and camping.

U.S. Army Corp of Engineers---Issue permits for removal and/or fill on all navigable waters.(I say if a boat floats. They say if a mosquito can ride a hunk of bark the little dude is navigating.) Maintain their own rules for water quality. Decide what is and isn't a dredge.

National Marine Fisheries---Can't figure out what they do, but they might show up. Maintains their own set of rules for water quality.

State: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife---Issue permits for dredging in any waters. The state claims to own all waters, surface or subterannean. Post timing guidelines for in-water work on all streams. Decides what is essential salmon habitat. Limits amount of material moved within a stream. Maintains own rules for water quality.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality---Issue permits to remove or fill with suction dredges. Sets their own rules on removal and fill quantities. Maintains own rules for water quality.

Oregon Department of Forestry---Issues permits for removal of any and all timber or brushland products. In charge of all rules pertaining to fire control. Maintain their own set of rules regarding water quality.

County: File and record all paperwork pertaining to mining claims, renewal, proof of labor that gets sent on to BLM.

Anyhow, maybe you get the picture. I count seven state or federal agencies whose rules overlap, yet differ. So what's a guy to do?

I carry a great big briefcase in my truck. In that case are copies of all permits. Copies of all my claims. Copies of all paperwork filed with BLM or the Forest Service. Copies of all rules and regulations issued by all agencies. Copies of the Oregon Forest Practices Act. Copies of all maps put out by any agency who claims rights over the waters. These include a list and maps of all designated salmon habitat and legal in-water work times.

A quad map of where I'm working. The booklets put out by BLM and the Forest Service outlining mining, prospecting and dredging on Federally Administered lands. The rules regarding filing and recording of mining claims. DEQ's rules on water quality. Everything that's been put out by any agency that tells me what I CAN do.

Lastly, I carry a copy of the Oregon Revised Statutes that deals specifically with mining, prospecting, and milling in the state. A ballpoint pen and a small tape recorder.

All this stays in my truck. Took a few days to put together, but it has never let me down. If I'm checked, I walk to my truck, smile happily, get out my case, open it up and spread the whole shebang out on the hood of the pickup and begin my lecture on all the rules set forth and exactly how I am complying. Pop on the recorder and settle in to give the guy a complete rundown on all rules and regulations in existence today and proposed for the future. I try to point out the differences between his agency, whichever one it might be and say, the Game Department. I explain the exact boundaries of my claim, what fish are present and how many I've seen feeding behind my dredge. I tell him what the in-water work dates are and anything else that explains why their rules are so top notch and sensible. Pretty soon they're nodding off, wondering why the hell they ever stopped to talk to me in the first place, and figuring I might know more about the rules than they do that there's no use hassleing me and looking stupid. Most of these guys have no clue what their own rules are, let alone someone elses. I follow them all they way to their rig as they're trying to escape, pointing to the Oregon Revised Statute about dredging city sewers or at a map of the habitat of the endangered Columbia River Sucker.

Ridiculousness deserves more of the same, and I look forward to each and every encounter. For some reason, nobody has checked me now in 4 years.