Quest for Gold destroying aquatic life

[ncclaymaker]

First of all... this is not my writting, but an article that appeared in the News and Observer, Raleigh, NC. So please, don't get upset with me! I did however write a rebuttal that appears under comments of this article by Bruce Henderson of the Charlotte Observer, November 1, 2011. Though he expresses a different view than most of us do, please keep civil with public replies as they may reflect poorly on the mining community.


Dworkowski is a member of the Matthews chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America. Some of his colleagues hunt for sport, others for cash.
BY BRUCE HENDERSON, Charlotte Observer
ELDORADO -- Gold prospectors chasing $1,600-an-ounce flecks in river bottoms east of Charlotte also might be sucking life out of the streams, experts say.

As the price of gold mounts, some weekend prospectors have turned to machines called suction dredges. The devices work like underwater vacuum cleaners, sucking gravel and dirt into sluice boxes that catch any gold and dump other material back into the river. That's a problem for anything living on the bottom, including mussels, fish eggs and aquatic insects, which can be killed by the machines or smothered in stirred-up sediment. California placed a moratorium on the practice in 2009 because of its damage to spawning salmon.

North Carolina requires no permits for recreational prospecting. But increased pressure from enthusiasts has raised concern on the Uwharrie River, which flows through the gold-rich heart of the Piedmont about 50 miles east of Charlotte.

"There's always a couple of people down there on the weekends, suction dredging," said Jason Walser, executive director of LandTrust for Central North Carolina, a Salisbury conservation group that owns 1,300 acres along the Uwharrie. "What we have seen is a steady increase both in the number of people and in the equipment investment and the time they're spending out there."

Last spring, LandTrust posted its property to keep out prospectors, igniting a firestorm of protest, Walser said. The 51,000-acre Uwharrie National Forest banned suction dredging about five years ago.

"If we left it unchecked it would be a big deal, it would cause some serious resource damage," said Uwharrie district ranger Deborah Walker.

The forest holds about a dozen old mining sites, and more are on private land nearby. In addition to suction dredging, forest rules prohibit prospecting with metal detectors to prevent trampling of rare plants or historic sites.

As prospecting pressure rose with gold prices, forest managers began working on policy changes to further limit its intensity, such as by limiting the size of sluice boxes.

Most amateur prospectors are driven more by the thrill of the hunt than by rising prices, said 15-year veteran Glenn Coleman, president of the Matthews chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America. "I've got every speck I've ever found," Coleman said. But some in the 200-member chapter see prospecting as supplemental income, he said, and suction dredges are efficient tools.

"You can pull a whole lot more with a suction dredge than you can with a shovel," Coleman said. "All we're doing is taking the gold out and putting (other material) back in the creek. It doesn't hurt the rivers and creeks. All you're disturbing is the gold."

A long, storied history

Gold has been disturbed in the Carolina Slate Belt, a geologic formation that cuts diagonally across the central Carolinas, for more than two centuries.

The nation's first gold rush began with a 12-year-old Cabarrus County lad stumbling across a 17-pound gold nugget in 1799. North Carolina became the nation's top gold producer for much of the early 1800s, and Mecklenburg County had more mines than any other county. A federal mint in Charlotte coined Southern gold until the start of the Civil War.

North Carolina now has no commercial gold mines, but the price spike - peaking this year at its highest level in decades - has exploration companies interested again. At least three firms say they are exploring historic mining sites in the Slate Belt. They can drill without permits if they disturb less than one acre.

"There is definitely large-scale drilling in North Carolina," said Kenneth Taylor, chief of the N.C. Geological Survey.

Southeast of Charlotte, in Lancaster County, S.C., a Canadian company plans to dig the biggest gold mine east of the Mississippi. The Environmental Protection Agency opposes the plan to enlarge the Haile mine, which dates to the early 1800s, because wetlands and streams would be destroyed.

An unregulated practice

It's hard to know how many recreational prospectors are scratching at N.C. gold because they aren't generally regulated. Mining is banned only in streams of unusually high ecological value, such as trout waters, and in places where endangered or threatened species are found.

The U.S. Forest Service doesn't allow sluice boxes in its western North Carolina streams because they could harm rare mountain plants and animals. Gold prospecting is prohibited in three federally-designated "wild and scenic" streams, the Horsepasture, Chattooga and Wilson Creek.

On the Uwharrie, suction dredging "if it's done properly, doesn't really hurt anything," said Bobby Crawford, state director of the prospectors association. Crawford, who's also president of the Salisbury chapter, dredges from private land along the Uwharrie.

"Where it causes problems is when you get people who don't know the laws and they start going into a bank," he said, releasing sediment into the water. Crawford said fish actually cluster near dredging because it stirs up food for them.

LandTrust is especially sensitive to prospecting because the Uwharrie basin harbors rare, if not endangered, mussels. Much of the money it used in 2006 to buy the 1,300-acre tract where prospectors congregate came from a state fund that restores ecologically important streams to offset the impacts of road construction.

As gold prices soared, Walser said, calls from prospectors asking to use the site increased. State environmental agencies who advise the conservation group on managing the site warned of potential damage from prospectors.

Those environmental agencies say they haven't yet documented harm to rare species - but they're wary of damage from increased prospecting.

John Fridell, a mussel biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Asheville, said suction dredging kills aquatic insects, fish eggs and mussels sucked into the machines, and can disturb spawning areas. Dredgers also change the dynamics of a stream, altering flow patterns and releasing sediment that can smother animals like mussels that can't swim away.

"It certainly has an effect," Fridell said, "and the more intense it is the more severe the effects."


Here is the link directly to the story -cut and paste into your browser

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/01/1610604/quest-for-gold-destroying-marine.html

 

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[freddy williams]

California started this aquatic life BS then oregon is doing some kind Of BS an AL says noone cxan treasure dive in there rivers and now the carolinas are stirring up some BS. The way I look at it is this, The government wants those of us who are low or middle income to stay that way I believe they are affraid alot of us detectors and gold hunters out here are going to find some big treasure and not give them there fair share. So what better way to keep us from finding something that they have no Idea if we did or not is to Take away our rights to the lands. This shit is spreding like a diseasxe we need to stop it or we are going to be sitting at home not allowed to do anything.... The lands for the people... Lets vote these idiots out of office. If you agree then pass this on.

 

[Gramps43]

This an article from the Curry Coastal Pilot the newspaper for very southwest Oregon.

Agency seeks public input on proposed 5-year ban of mining on Chetco River

Written by Steve Kadel, Pilot staff writer
October 28, 2011 11:06 pm

Local residents strongly supported banning future mining along the Chetco River during a forum Wednesday afternoon at the Best Western Inn.

The session, hosted by the U.S. Forest Service, was intended for testimony on a proposal to prohibit mining near the river for five years ­– with the possible exception of existing claims.

Thirteen people testified in favor of the ban. No one spoke against it.

Some proponents mentioned mining’s threat to clean water because the Chetco provides drinking water for Brookings and Harbor. Others noted the presence of salmon in the wild and scenic river, a declining resource among West Coast rivers.

Many said the river not only improves the quality of life for local residents, but brings tourists who contribute to the Curry County economy.

Jim Wegener said he moved to Harbor three years ago from the San Francisco Bay area specifically to be near the river.

“The true value of the Chetco River is its pristine beauty,” he said.

Yvonne Maitland added that mining operations “will have a cumulative and negative effect on the condition of the river. Gold mining is in direct conflict with the purpose of the federal ‘Wild and Scenic’ designation.”

She urged the Forest Service to consider “the greater public good” by protecting the Chetco.

Entomologist Marius Wasvauer of the Chetco River Watershed Council said suction dredge mining such as that proposed on the Chetco River would damage aquatic life that fish depend on for food.

Tim Palmer agreed that mining would threaten food sources for fish, and added that mining would flush silt downstream to destroy salmon spawning beds. He said the river is pristine because there are no towns or dams upstream.

“This is a unique situation on the West Coast,” Palmer said.

“We are so fortunate to be so close to something so wild and beautiful,” said Stormy Lake.

Ann Vileisis, president of the Kalmiopsis Audubon Society, cited a study for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife that estimated $4.5 million was spent for freshwater fishing trips in Curry County during 2008.

“It’s a matter of economics and qualify of life for local people,” she said.

At issue is an application the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest submitted to the Bureau of Land Management. It requests the Secretary of the Interior to ban mining along 5,610 acres along the Chetco from where it exits the Kalmiopsis Wilderness to the Siskiyou National Forest boundary.

That 17-mile segment is in the upper portion of the river. The ban would extend inland for a quarter mile from the river’s banks.

As of Aug. 1, the Department of the Interior placed a two-year moratorium on new mining while the larger issue is processed.

Alan Vandiver, Forest Service district ranger in the Gold Beach office, said existing mining claims would not be covered under the potential ban. However, for mining activity to take place on those claims, owners would have to get Forest Service approval.
Vandiver said that approval would only be given if the Forest Service verified that the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit had been made.

Eleven people have mining claims on the Chetco, he said, although it’s unclear how many total claims are involved.

Besides Wednesday afternoon’s public testimony forum, a similar session was held that night.

Written comments supporting or opposing the potential ban may be given to the Bureau of Land Management state director at: Oregon/Washington State Director, BLM, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, OR 97208-2965.


Gramps

 

[Gramps43]

And this is my reply that I had to pare down from this 1900+ words to 436 words that I hope I can get them to publish. I'll let you know if they agree.

On banning mining on the Chetco

I (Dennis P Sheridan, Tillamook, OR) am getting damn sick and tired of all this protect this, protect that, before long you won’t be able to step out of your house, assuming you will still have one, for fear of stepping on an endangered thinga-ma-whatsit. It is time people to get a grip on reality and stop this cutting off our nose to spite our face. It is time to stop worrying about every critter on the planet.

Years ago there was the term “planned obsolescence” coined to explain why cars weren’t lasting very long, well did you ever think that God or Mother Nature, whoever you pray to, has the same thoughts as regards critterdom. Say God decides that the Dinos have had a good run and it’s time for them to exit stage left, so he cranks up a fast ball and zappo the Dinos disappear. I’ll bet we’re on that list too and when out time comes zappo and we’ll be gone.

Now back to the river and all the other rivers in the state and some of the folks who want to ban mining on the Chetco. First let me ask a question of all you folks out there, who thinks this will be the only river closed down to miners? Wow no one raised there hand and guess what you’re right, give an environmentalist an inch and they’ll demand the next ten miles.

My notes for this letter are from an article written by Steve Kadel staff writer for the Pilot.

Mr. Wegener you didn’t move up here just to be next to the Chetco River, you moved because the cost of living is cheaper, taxes are lower and we don’t have all those weirdo’s that have taken over the bay area to put up with. Let me give you a flash of insight, where you live you will never know if there is someone running a dredge on the river. You see they are going to be twenty miles up river and the tiny plume they generate will have long ago dissipated.

Ms. Maitland you are exasperatingly wrong about any negative effect on the condition of river. As maybe you are or maybe not that from a fishes perspective the dredgers are doing them a favor. When the dredger pulls all that compacted river bottom along this rocks pebbles and the insects and such that burrow in the river silt and runs it through his dredge two things happen. First all those insects and such are expelled out of the end of the sluice and are floating in the water column, a plumme de grocerie, as it were and the
fish party down on the bounty. Oh by the way the “Wild and Scenic” designation is in conflict with the mining laws of 1866 & 1872 which by the way predates the W&S by many mucho years. Oh by the wootsie this country was created for “the greater public good” it was created for the good of all and it has a constitution, that I spent twenty years of my life defending, guaranteeing that.

Entomologist Wasvauer is just about as misguided as is the Kurak Tribal biologist that couldn’t figure out that the fresh water mussels that were dead in the dry part of the Klamath River bed died because the river had receded, as it is want to do in the summer, leaving the mussel high and dry resulting in la mort. Does Mr. Wasvauer think that at the height of the dredging season an Arial view would show a carpet of dredges from the mouth to the trickle that starts the river, give me a break. Not only is that patently ridiculous, there aren’t that many dredges in the three pacific states. May I also remind him that the dredge season is approx. 3 months long and that any critters that are turned into fish food will be replaced over the ensuing 9 months.

Really Mr. Palmer do you take everyone for fools and dolts. The miners are working in the spawning grounds, if they were working above the grounds that might hold true but there isn’t enough water up that high on the river to do much dredging, so that balloon goes “POP.” As they are working in the grounds their plumes de dirt are going into the general river system which cam more than handle the puny amount silt introduced. And NO this is not a unique situation you have; I would say that all the rivers from northern CA to WA support populations of anadromous fishes. You have but one river to fawn over, while up here in Tillamook we have “five” rivers flowing into Tillamook Bay, feeling dis-uniqued yet.

Stormy Lake, I up your “wild and beautiful” by a factor of 5, feeling unfortunate yet.

Ms. Vileisis, Think of how much five rivers bring in, mind boggling ain’t it.

If you folks think this letter is mean then you really don’t have clue what mean is. Take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself and ask yourself what am I doing with my life. Am I living peacefully with my fellow man or am I being “mean” denying some of my neighbors and fellow Oregonians the pleasures of the land that God or Mother Nature gave to us all to enjoy. Are you becoming another arm of the Neo-Socialist government that is slowly but inexorably taking away our rights to recreate on public land. For as surely as you stand at that mirror this just one installment on the grand plan to strip us of our rights and freedoms. I would hope that you forgo this stupid and potentially disastrous idea.

Gramps

 

[Hefty1]

To those easterner posts.....

Boy this stuff sounds all to familiar.
Where were you easterners when we needed here in ca
I will be sending them my letters to them this weekend.

Hefty

P.S. Perfect letter Gramps

 

[enamel7]

To those easterner posts.....

Boy this stuff sounds all to familiar.
Where were you easterners when we needed here in ca
I will be sending them my letters to them this weekend.

Hefty

P.S. Perfect letter Gramps

I made calls and sent emails when asked. I knew they would try it here next. By the way, The Charlotte "disturber" as it's called here is the liberal rag for our area. Most intelligent folk don't read it.

 

[russau]

To those easterner posts.....

Boy this stuff sounds all to familiar.
Where were you easterners when we needed here in ca
I will be sending them my letters to them this weekend.

Hefty

Hefty, there were lots of easteners/midwest that did send in comments/letters/and maybe even a few phone calls to California/Oregon/Washington. and a lot of us sent money to groups that did fight for our rights! probly in some instances more comments from out of state people than Californians!

 

[Hefty1]

I apologise for the question above. I beleive i was to quick to respond.
I am just to pissed off about this whole BS happening in our country.

Once again I apologise.

Hefty

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Good letter, Gramps,


However - don't just watch the libs - also watch the conservatives and the "in-between" middle of the roaders.

Many studies have been done on dredging and aquatic life. (real studies, not ones paid for by folks who want to stop it). The truth of the matter is that - in most cases, if done properly (meaning having a season), dredging has improved aquatic life. It unearths foods and loosens beds used by fish to spawn, makes more food available, and adds oxygen to the water, needed by both fish and plants.

While the libs are trying to put our country under glass - accessed only by folks who have money - the conservatives are SELLING our public lands off.

The 1872 mining law is the only law we have left that gives you the right - yes, the RIGHT - to enter public land.
If we are not pro-active, instead of re-active, we will lose it all. Add to that, the fact that all of the last few administrations (both republican and democrat) have decided that our public lands should be used by energy companies - for profit, and pretty much took away our rights with their
eminant domain decisions - we will thank a certain eastern state judge for THAT precedent.

It started long ago, when the government decided that WE should pay to use our public lands. First, we pay them with our tax dollars (the Interior department has a huge budget to use against us), and then, we get to pay again to SEE our public land. Who wants to pay $25.00 to see the painted desert? And that is just one of thousands of "pay-to-use your public land" crap.

And, they are BOTH in bed with Nature's Conservancy and Sierra Club (and other) organizations. It "saves money" to let them do the work - and, unfortunately, it is not just our hobby at risk. They are limiting use of beaches - in case someone doesn't know - states do not own the beaches, nor do private individuals, but, our government, state and federal, are selling them off, as well as our parks, some roads and many other places.

One in particular, used eminant domain and then sold the land to a multi-million dollar development corporation. (that was a necessity, wasn't it?).
Didn't everybody get their part of THAT multi-million dollar deal?

Use your pen and paper - emails very often go unnoticed. In fact, quite often, if there is a comment period, they toss out email comments, and say that nobody responded. We caught the Feds doing that in Wyoming, and they eventually had to pull their "plans" (at the time, their plan was to make a "horizon to horizon" corridor - which doesn't sound like much, except 80% of it was private land - including ours. We started such a revolution at the time, they withdrew their plans.

My favorite statement, at that time, was the BLM telling us that we were all neighbors, we owned the private land, they ownd the public land, to which, big mouth that I am, stood up in a crowded room and told BLM that they owned NOTHING - they were caretakers, not land owners. The meeting ended up being shortened, as, my statement tended to get the 3,000 or so folks quite agitated in agreement, and I believe they feared a riot (which was not the intent).

We all need our public land back, but, unless we join forces with the other folks who use our public lands, we will lose. Its that simple. The hikers don't like the 4 wheelers, the 4 wheelers don't like the horse-back riders, the horse-back riders don't like the skiers, the skiers don't like the treasure hunters, and the government doesn't like anything but our money.

Beth

 

[russau]

SALUTE to you Beth! a very good post and i agree with you 100% i spoke up at one of our senators fireside chats this summer(to wet/hot/tornados/lack of $$ to get out)and i commented often to this persons dismay!! and it also got the group stepping up also! the speaker/representative of the senator looked worried! i told her to look for a new job because shes going to get voted OUT! we need to get ALl miners on this commenting/letter writing/phone calls. the people that are acctually doing this is a small number compaired to all that "claim" tobe miners and ride the benifits of others that fight for thier rights!

 

[Armchair prospector]

We do need a riot. It's the only way to get noticed. We have been backed into a corner.

 

[GrayCloud]

If we do not get every liberal democrat loon and rino's out of office, we will soon need a permit to mow the grass in our own yards. These people are not stable. How in the heck do they get into positions of power and what mindset votes for these loons?
Now that I have that out of my system, anyone have an idea how to effectively combat these groups and their cohort's in office?

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Graycloud,

Actually, I would agree with you - but, it seems like our "leaders", repubs or dems, all want to tell us what to do, when to do it, and how often we can do it.

My town is about 95% republican (all elected officials are republican) - either way - they DO tell us when to mow the lawns, and how short your grass needs to be.

The only difference between the two parties is what they want to tell you to do.

Beth

 

[highdesertranger]

how true mrs white gold, how true. i have been saying that same thing for years. highdesertranger

 

[Lanny in AB]

I fully enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks!

All the best,

Lanny