Gold Mining

[1flyfisher]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...est=latestnews

According to a description provided by the Karuk Tribe, which opposes the mining, suction dredges require prospectors to go under water and suck out whatever gold they can find at the bottom of rivers with vacuum hoses. The vacuum hoses suction up gravel and sand from the river bottom, which then passes through a sluice box that traps the heavier gold particles. The rest of the gravel is dumped back into the river.

Environmentalists say the practice destroys fish habitat and cite scientific studies that show dredging can release toxic mercury locked in the riverbed. Supporters strongly dispute that, pointing to a preliminary environmental review released in February by the Fish and Game Department that declared the practice is not "deleterious to fish."

Craig Tucker, a spokesman for the Karuk Tribe, told FoxNews.com that Fish and Game redefined "deleterious" so it could keep issuing permits. Under the government's definition, he said, a whole class of fish would have to be destroyed -- instead of just being harmed in a subtle way -- to be considered problematic.

Mark Stopher, a spokesman for Fish and Game, told FoxNews.com that the definition is based on maintaining population sustainability, just like other activities, including whitewater rafting and bridge maintenance.

"And it's our view that suction dredging can be regulated in a way that we don't have deleterious effect on fish at the population level," he said.

The Karuk Tribe, whose members were trampled by the original Gold Rush of the 1850s, has been leading the campaign against the practice, including filing the lawsuit that led to the court-ordered moratorium in 2009. The tribe cheered the proposed budget cuts.

"California is in the midst of an historic financial crisis. Taxpayers can no longer afford to subsidize this environmentally destructive hobby," said Leaf Hillman, director of the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...#ixzz1O8sAWf1x

[Garfly]

....Look at it this way. Would you rather have 1-2 dredgers occasionally working any and every accessible mile of river next to available road access/ OR-6-12 fishermen working these areas daily and weekends....(Clue: the visiting fishermen spend WAY more money to visit a pristine area, than an RV living miner with a coleman stove....)

If we looked 7- generations ahead ...,we might still be able to eat some fish somewhere....the chemical companies deserve a little watching & regulation also?!....there is still too much DDT in some stripers to eat them in some of the marsh areas that I read about in a DF&G report that I saw recently....

[Mike O]

DDT Hell, what about the pesticide and herbicide runoff from current agricultural practices? I know I won't eat much striper or sturgeon from the Sac River. Not to mention what this has done to the water clarity and invert. life.

Gotta love that Sonoma wine, too...and what it has done to Russian River.