Kulongoski wants to head off Calif. gold miners
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GRANTS PASS, Ore.—Gov. Ted
Kulongoski wants to head off recreational miners who are headed for
"them thar hills" in Oregon after California stopped prospectors from
using suction dredges to glean flecks of gold from salmon rivers.
The
governor sent letters Thursday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking them to impose what is known as a
mineral withdrawal on federal lands surrounding the Kalmiopsis, Wild
Rogue and Copper Salmon wilderness areas on the Rogue River-Siskiyou
National Forest. Conservation groups hope to meld the three
wilderness areas and surrounding parts of southwestern Oregon into one
big wilderness covering 1 million acres—a move Kulongoski has endorsed.
Mining is already restricted on the wilderness areas, but the mineral
withdrawal would stop new claims in the areas surrounding them. The
region includes portions of the Rogue, Illinois and Elk rivers. The
Siskiyou and Klamath mountains of southwestern Oregon were the site of
Oregon's gold rush in the 1850s, and Kulongoski noted that the region
has some of the best remaining salmon and steelhead habitat on the West
Coast. "With climate change increasing the pressures on plant
and animal species, this area is a critical lifeboat providing intact
habitat over a range of elevations from north to south," Kulongoski
wrote. "We are very concerned that the suction dredge miners are now
heading for Oregon." The governor's policy director, The area is just
over the hill from Happy Camp, Calif., where mining on claims along the
Klamath River owned by the New 49ers Prospecting Club was practically
shut down in August. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation
imposing a statewide moratorium until an environmental review
determines how much harm the practice is doing to struggling salmon
runs. Joel King, Wild Rivers district ranger on the Rogue
River-Siskiyou National Forest, said he had noticed an increase in
recreational gold mining that he attributed to rising gold prices and
the California dredge moratorium. Gold prices reached a record of $1,072 an ounce Wednesday. "Just
about anybody who was mining in Northern California has been looking at
Oregon for the next season because it's being litigated in California
right now and we don't know how that litigation will come out," said
Mike Higbee, a Grants Pass gold miner and member of the New 49ers. "If
we are unable to overturn it before next season, it would only be a
natural fact that California miners are going to be looking at
Oregon—and Washington and Idaho." Montine Blevins of the New
49ers said club president Dave McCracken has scouted out public-access
mining locations in Oregon and shared the locations with club members,
but he has not made any new claims. Higbee said he brought his
own dredge over from Happy Camp to state-controlled land on the Rogue
River. There were 10 other miners from California working the river, he
added. "There are 3,000 licensed suction dredgers (in
California) that they have never proved killed a fish," Higbee said.
"They also have 3.2 million licensed fishermen, and their goal is to
kill fish." Gloria Forest of Sutherlin, treasurer of the
Douglas County Prospectors Association, said they regularly pull more
lead fishing weights and other garbage out of rivers than gold. Representatives
from the departments of Interior and Agriculture said they had received
the Kulongoski's letter and were reviewing it.
