Washington is following California's Lead

[OwenT]

Part of the email from Washington DOE

On June 11, 2020, motorized and gravity siphon aquatic mining is prohibited in waters of the state that are critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for salmon, steelhead, or bull trout, and all fresh waters of the state with designated uses of salmonid spawning, rearing, and migration.

Motorized and gravity siphon aquatic mining may still be allowed in areas that are not designated as salmonid habitat (potential use areas). See the interactive map of possible mining locations, called potential use areas. In potential use areas, operators of motorized or gravity siphon aquatic mining operations must now apply for and be issued an individual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water quality permit from Ecology to demonstrate compliance with the Clean Water Act. This is in addition to obtaining a Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) permit from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

Mining can still be permitted theoretically, but check out the map of "potential use areas" and see if it's at all similar to something California just released. I'll be the first to say nobody is going to be looking for gold in any of those waterways in Grant or Lincoln County. The majority of them in Grant county are irrigation canals and for the ones that aren't you can count on one or two hands the drainages that ever have any flowing water.

 

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[mike(swWash)]

Damn it, I knew we'd reach this point sometime
It seems to spread like a cancer.

 

[Lycof]

Got to use my dredge one time before it hit. Went through the headache of getting an HPA, for nada. Only waters left in Grays Harbor is west fork of Hoquiam river. 18-36 inch deep mud. Garbage.

Mike, I saw so some post a vid on YouTube the other day of your drive up beach spot down south.

 

[Noah_D]

Agh. I'm all for conservation and taking care of the land but I'm sick and tired of all this regulation. I've been looking for new detecting permissions near me and it seems like every good spot is owned by Metroparks, conservancies, or a museum.