The last thing miners need is the fishermen and women out to get them. Small scale suction dredging actually has positive impacts on river systems. The biggest impact is from clean out mecury. Its a fun hobby for the family, we all are getting the outdoors taken from us little by little. WA state actually have some of best laws in the northwest. It comes in the form of the Gold and Fish pamphlet. It restricts dredging in area's during the spawing seasons so there is no accidental dredging of reds.
Unless you have real facts please don't let the extreme enviros sway your opinions.
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.
Facts??
I don't see any facts. What I see is someone who calls for "common sense" ( thereby attempting to take the high ground and implying anyone disagreeing with them doesn't have "common sense") regulations tossing about generalized numbers for exceptions to dredge windows and then implying that they are routinely violated with nothing to back up those assertions.
So, exactly how many dredge window exceptions have been granted in a specific period? Pick a year, two or three.
How do you know that there is no enforcement (an asserted "fact")?
Has WDFW cited anyone or shut down operations for violations during the period you picked? Specificity!!
With all of your personal experience and knowledge in this matter how many violations have you personally witnessed during that same period?
Assuming you have witnessed violations during that period did you report them and what was the result?
FYI I do not dredge mine nor participate in any form of mineral extraction in WA, know no one who does (to the best of my knowledge), and am unfamiliar with the regs pertaining to that work.
What I do recognize is someone pushing an agenda citing so called facts without substantiating their assertions. And, by the way, simply saying someone else has done something (in this case more stringent regulations) and we, therefore, should do the same or more is equivalent to blindly following the lead lemming over the cliff.
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