Okay, here's a few "real facts": EXCEPTIONS to the dredging windows (in the form of Hydraulic Project Approvals or HPAs) specified in the Gold and Fish pamphlet are ROUTINELY issued by the WDFW (in fact, many hundreds of them have been issued), and then those "exception projects" are not monitored for compliance with the rules. Suction-dredge mining is different from panning for gold: it can involve moving boulders and woody debris in streams, altering the streambottom, stirring up sediment, and destroying fish eggs, to name a few obvious effects. Dredging clearly has the potential to damage streams with ESA-listed salmon and steelhead. The claim that small-scale dredging "actually has positive impacts on river systems" defies common sense and is a minority opinion held mostly by miners themselves. By comparison with other western states such as California, Oregon, and Idaho, Washington actually has a very permissive, even lax set of rules governing dredging. That is a fact. (Does it make sense that I can apply for a permit to dredge the Sol Duc River, recently designated a wild steelhead gene bank by the WDFW? The Gold and Fish pamphlet says I can apply.) And there is no monitoring or enforcement of what dredging rules exist -- also a fact. Lastly, I'm not out to "get" miners: I don't care about a family panning for gold for fun. And I'm certainly not an "extreme enviro," whatever that's supposed to be. But I am for commonsense regulation to protect our already badly degraded rivers and dwindling stocks of wild fish. It's not 1960 any more.