Legislators Seek Ban On Recreational Gold Mining

Suction dredge mining seen as harmful to salmon fishing

Humboldt Sentinel
1/8/09
By Charles Douglas

SACRAMENTO -- Local legislators lined up with Native American and environmental groups this week in support of emergency restrictions on recreational gold mining along the Klamath River and its tributaries.

While such a ban wouldn’t quite end the practice of panning for gold on the riverbanks, the practice of suction dredging -- the use of fossil-fuel-powered engines on floating pontoons to vacuum hose the bottom of the river – is widely seen as making watercourses murky and unfit for salmon spawning.

The North Coast’s assemblymember, Wes Chesbro (Dem. – Arcata) and state senator, Pat Wiggins (Dem. – Santa Rosa) co-signed a letter with several other legislators to the California Department of Fish and Game and the State Water Resources Control Board demanding the imposition of ad-hoc regulations.

“California is currently facing precipitous declines in its once-thriving populations of native salmon, steelhead and wild trout,” the letter stated. “Therefore, all ocean fishing for salmon was banned in 2008 and is likely to be similarly prohibited in 2009. We see no rationale or basis for allowing the regulatory status quo to remain in place for in-stream mining activities that DFG already acknowledges is harming fish…”

DFG is more than 18 months behind schedule in completing a regulatory overhaul required by a court order issued in December 2006, and is just now starting the process. New environmental standards will not be issued until 2011 at the earliest, according to a release from Wiggins spokesperson David Miller.

In addition to Wiggins and Chesbro, other signatories to the letter sent Monday were Senator Fran Pavley (Dem. - Agoura Hills), chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee; Senator Lois Wolk (Dem. - Davis); and Assemblymember Jared Huffman (Dem. - San Rafael), chair of the Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee. Wiggins also chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Environmentally-leaning elected officials weren’t the originators of the emergency regulations proposal, however; late last month, the Karuk Tribe and three environmental organizations filed a petition with DFG director Donald Koch seeking particular time restrictions on dredging during the July 1 through Sept. 15 spawning season in the Klamath River watershed. Their petition also sought to tack on absolute restrictions on dredging along the Feather River, North Fork American River, Rubicon River, and smaller creeks in the northern Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The Karuk, along with California Trout, Friends of the North Fork and the Sierra Fund, cite federal studies noting a 73% decline in returning coho salmon adults in 2008, compared to just three years before.

“An April 2008 report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that the lack of demonstrably viable coho populations, lack of redundancy in viable populations, and substantial gaps in coho distribution, all ‘strongly indicate that (the coho) is currently in danger of extinction,’ their petition stated. “This dramatic and recent decline constitutes an emergency situation.”

The vacuums used by suction dredgers drags sediment from the bottom of the river, then passes the stream bed through a sluice box where heavier gold particles can settle into a series of riffles. The rest of the gravel and potentially toxic sediment is simply dumped back into the river. Depending on size, location and density of these machines, the machines can turn a clear running mountain stream or river segment into a murky watercourse unfit for survival of spawning salmon or their young, according to Wiggins.

“California is suffering from an historical collapse of vital fisheries,” she said. “The alarming decline in once-thriving populations of native salmon, steelhead and wild trout which forced government regulators to close the fishing season last spring may likely occur again in 2009.”

“This crisis has caused tremendous hardships for fishermen, their families and the North Coast economy. We must do everything we can to protect the fisheries which are essential to their survival, especially in today’s depressed economic environment.”

DFG was previously obligated, under the 2006 settlement of a previous lawsuit brought by the Karuk Tribe, to complete an environmental review and overhaul of suction dredge regulations. However, July 1 of last year came, and went, without state authorities meeting this deadline, despite the ongoing violation of the Fish and Game Code relating to the taking of threatened fish species.

The environmental groups involved also claim DFG is allowing violations of the federal Clean Water Act due to the lack of permitting for dredging activities, possibly providing grounds for a further lawsuit entangling an already embattled state agency.