Speaking of "baseless claims," I'm going to focus on just one of Dan's bits of twisted logic, half-truths, distortions, and plain falsehoods. In his dredger manifesto of 12:29 PM on February 27, Dan stated:

"Dredging does benefit the stream and that is a proven fact."

Compare that absurd bit of gold-miner propaganda with what actual fisheries biologists (with PhDs, Dan!) have concluded in the following three peer-reviewed, published reports. Even with all the usual qualifications that scientists use, there is a vast difference between what they've written and Dan's "proven fact." (Note to Dan: Politicians didn't write the following reports, did they? By the way, when is your course in Pretzel Logic being given at the community college where you teach dredging?)

1. "We encourage that suction dredge mining be prohibited or greatly reduced where sensitive fish stocks utilize reaches for spawning or where other sensitive life history stages are present."

Effects of Suction Dredge Mining on Oregon Fishes and Aquatic Habitats, Oregon Chapter, American Fisheries Society, April 2013.



2. "Dredging should be of special concern where it is frequent, persistent, and adds to similar effects caused by other human activities....Where threatened or endangered species exist, managers would be prudent to assume activities such as dredging are harmful unless proven otherwise."

Bret C. Harvey and Thomas E. Lisle, Effects of Suction Dredging on Streams; A Review and an Evaluation Strategy, Fisheries 23 (8), 8-17 (1999).




3. "Our results show that fisheries managers should consider the potential negative effects of dredge tailings on the spawning success of fall-spawning fish, such as chinook salmon and coho salmon. Streams with a shortage of natural substrate appropriate for spawning, a high potential for scour, and a low number of spawners deserve special attention. Where managers determine unstable dredge tailings may lead to unacceptable effects on spawning success, these effects could be reduced or eliminated through regulations that require that tailings piles be redistributed to restore the original bed topography and particle size distribution."

Bret C. Harvey and Thomas E. Lisle, Scour of Chinook Salmon Redds on Suction Dredge Tailings, North American Journal Fisheries Management, 19: 613-617, 1999. Published by the American Fisheries Society.




P.S. to Dan: Don't believe everything you think. You're probably a terrific dredger and nice guy, but critical thinking isn't one of your strengths. And if you're going to counter the quotes from the fisheries biologists with some dredger "science" of your own, please don't direct us to an article in Big Nugget magazine or tell us another personal story, even if it seems to reveal another one of your "proven facts." Your pronouncements on an issue of fisheries biology can't be given the same credence as reports by qualified, practicing fisheries biologists.