The 1866/72 laws only apply to federally managed public lands. So... If the ownership didn't change (just the administration) it might be ok but if ownership changed, we'd be screwed.
The Feds do try to make limited management contracts with the States sometimes. Those management agreements are not necessarily just for public lands.
The issue of mineral rights on the public lands does not change with the management agency but with the mineral land status. Land Status is first of all a function of Congress with one exception. The Secretary of the Interior is designated by Congress to control land status and the BLM is the agency who must make those changes. Although the BLM is also a land manager they are the only land management agency who actually implements mineral land status. The land management agency is not a factor in whether the lands are open to location.
In the non public land eastern states the federal interests in the "forests" and parks are generally limited to lease or limited surface right purchases. In that case or in the case of western states acquired (purchased or swapped) lands there are no rights under the multiple mining acts. Management of those lands don't have to consider mining rights so those State contracts can be pretty well understood just by reading the contract.
In the western Public Land States where there is land open to location things get a little messy. A good example is the Auburn State Recreation Area on the American River in California. Much of the land within that management contract boundary is public land open to location. The right to locate on those lands is only restricted by a minor power withdrawal for a dam that will never be built. As such the claim locator only needs to notify the BLM of the land status and wait 30 days before beginning mining. The BLM should, and usually does, approve the claim if there are no active power projects planned or being proposed in Congress.
Locating a claim should be easy peasy in the ASRA area because there is
no way there will ever be a dam proposed or built on the fault underlying the dam site. BLM still wants to pretend that a dam is still in planning and voids each new claim location.
Of course the refusal to process claims in the ASRA there does not close the area to prospecting or exploration. The 25 year management contract with the State Parks makes it clear that minerals, prospecting and exploring are not to be managed by the State Parks. Still there are those on this forum and others that are trying to negotiate prospecting privileges and regulations with the California State Parks when in fact the right to prospect those areas are controlled by the 1866/1872 and all the Mining Acts - not the Sate Parks.
Clearly in the case of the ASRA and several other management contracts with States the federal lands and their mineral rights are being treated differently than the law allows. Public confusion over who is in charge of what allows some pretty shady stuff to go on. It's not just mining claims or prospecting either. Consider this - under federal law the public lands are open for free to the public unless a specific set of amenities are offered in a specific site. Now consider the parking and recreation fees charged by the ASRA and others on what is legally public land without the required amenities.
There are a lot of good people in our Federal government land agencies but there are also a lot of not so good people who would like to change our access to those public lands. They have been unable to get the laws changed so they play games to confuse the public and keep them toeing the line for an agenda that has no place in public land management. It is those people who would like you to believe that land management agencies have the right to decide what lands are open to prospecting. Those same people would love you to believe they made a deal with a State to take over federal public lands and now State rules apply to those lands. That didn't happen in the law but if they can get enough people to believe it they can get what they wanted all along and never even bother going through the trouble of changing the laws they don't like. You know - like the law that says public lands are open to prospecting.
Heavy Pans
