I am a life long Gold Dredger. I have been in hot pursuit of Gold for over 30 years and I have been politically active in defense of dredging for well over a decade. I also love to hunt and fish and enjoy many other outdoor pursuits just like all of you. I also consider myself an environmentalist because I care about our natural world, I avoid causing it harm and actively promote activities that benefit it.

I read a mixed bag of responses on here, most have a skeptical yet open mind about the perils posted almost exclusively by Smelt.

Smelt...you are a troll. I recognize your writing style and attitude from some of the other forums I have visited lately. You have been spreading your anti mining agenda to anyone who will listen...mostly just your liberal buddies...btw how is the new facebook page going? Adding that you've only been registered here a month ago and have posted only in this thread (that you started) ...I call you a troll to your face.

You are vaguely misleading on many points and outright wrong on some others...to begin.

Enforcement - the people who regulate miners are the same that regulate fishermen plus we answer to the Forest Service, BLM, DNR, Army Corps, Dept of Ecology, the tribes and potentially a host of others depending on where we work. If we are unenforced then the enforcement is far less for fishermen.

Moving boulders, rototilling the stream - If you will refer the the Gold and Fish pamphlet, starting at page 10 and continuing on... You will find that if we pull a boulder we have to put it back, if we make a hole we have to fill it. we have to disperse tailing piles,we cannot disturb woody debris, we must avoid redds, we must have screens over our water intakes...on and on. You have either never read the document or you choose to ignore it's contents completely.
I strongly urge anyone reading this thread to go get their facts for themselves. You can find our mining regulations here: http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00290/wdfw00290.pdf

Free HPA's for everyone - A Hydraulic permit is required if I want to do any prospecting that is not allowed in the G&F book such as longer work windows or different equipment. It's a variance to the standarg rules similar to applying for a cow tag during elk season.
Each HPA begins with a JARPA. This is a 14 page application that must be filled out in detail. There are 7 different JARPA forms or addendum's depending on what I am doing and where. Once submitted I must meet the WDFW biologist on site and physically show him what I want to do and exactly where. He then either denies the application or writes a complex approval that outlines exactly what I can do. I have several HPA's. One allows me to exceed the 2 week work window by an additional 2 weeks and only in the area from the bridge to 100 feet downstream. Another HPA requires me to call the biologist and the enforcement officer at least 48 hours ahead of when I plan to do work and then only work in two specific locations. Unregulated indeed. It would be like fishermen being asked to call the game warden before they can launch a boat? Or getting specific approval from a biologist on site to fish individual riffles or holes.

Free permits to prospectors - When the current G&F was drafted, the gold prospecting community offered to pay a fee for the permit. The WDFW declined to require a fee because the overhead to administer it would have exceed the revenue collected. I was there, you were not.

Our mining regulations are very similar to fishing regulations. They identify what gear I can use, when I can use it and break it down on a stream by stream basis. The most remarkable difference is the fishing regs tell you exactly how many fish you can kill per day and my regs are designed to prevent any from being killed ever.

Some of you have wanted to get the opinions of a real gold dredger. Here I am...I welcome your respectful dialog.
Smelt if you would like to argue the law around gold mining or your opinions of the environmental impacts...step right up...I will take you to task.

Thanks,
Dan Miller