A time out for mining in the Siskiyous

A spike in mining in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area is turning into a dangerous free-for-all, with hundreds of claims filed in the last eight years. One miner shot an ATV rider who ventured onto his claim, another has challenged the authority of the courts to restrict his mining activities and a third is looking to sell "time shares" in his claim surrounded by the Kalmiopsis Wilderness even though he has no permits to do so.

 Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio all have written to top Obama administration officials seeking a moratorium on harmful mining activity in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area. A moratorium is certainly needed to stop the land rush and harmful mining activities in the Siskiyous until Congress has an opportunity to approve long-overdue reforms of the Mining Act of 1872.

The mining act is one of the last great anachronisms in federal law. Even now, just after Congress has recognized the world-renowned biological diversity of the Siskiyous, the mining act allows miners to stake claims throughout the area, using suction dredges and causing other environmental harm. With the mining act behind them, these miners view the public land as theirs to exploit.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is leading an effort to write a new national mining law in Congress, one that would better balance the competing needs and values in areas such as the Siskiyous. But until the new law and better protections are in place, Salazar and Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary who oversees the Forest Service, should order a moratorium on mining in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area.