Slow down the gold rush

Ever since last August when California banned suction mining, the practice of vacuuming sediment from the bottom of rivers in search of gold and other minerals, it was only a matter of time before more miners hurried north to Oregon.
 
Now there's a new gold rush developing along pristine rivers and streams in Southwest Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains, a stronghold for salmon and steelhead and one of the most ecologically diverse places in the United States. Miners have staked out claims along dozens of miles of vital salmon-bearing streams, including the Chetco River and Rough and Ready Creek, and some of even nailed up "No Trespassing" signs even though their claims sit squarely in public lands.
 
Of course, there is a place for small-scale, carefully regulated mining in the Siskiyous, which has a long history of mining and of conflicts between miners and other forest users. But the Chetco and other precious fish nurseries must be protected from harmful practices such as suction mining.
 
Conservation groups and members of Oregon's congressional delegation are urging the Obama administration to place a moratorium on mining along the Chetco and other key waterways in the Siskiyous. Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Peter DeFazio, sent letters late last year asking the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, to restrict mining while lawmakers work to craft longer-term protections for the Siskiyous.
 
The ultimate solution in the Siskiyous is congressional expansion of wilderness and wild and scenic river protections, if not a national monument or park designation. However, getting those kind of lasting protections in place takes time, and with a growing number of mining conflicts, including threats of violence, the Chetco and other streams in the Siskiyous don't have that kind of time.
 
Over the last decade, more than 800 new mining claims have been filed in the Siskiyous under the federal Mining Law of 1872. At least one speculator has been buying up claims and forming a mining club, inviting miners from near and far drawn by the current high price of gold. The Forest Service has been battling illegal mining activity in the Siskiyous, including one miner who plunged ahead with a major mine without government permission and another who set up a mining "dude ranch" in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.
 
More recently, a miner posting an the Oregon Gold Hunters Web site for prospectors suggested that miners ought to consider shooting members of a southern Oregon wildland group while they were out for an old-growth forest hike near the Rogue River. It would be easier to dismiss such threats as silly bravado if a miner in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest hadn't shot an off-road-vehicle-driver last spring, causing a wound that required the amputation of the man's arm.
 
So far there's been no response by the Obama administration to Oregon's request for a mining moratorium along the Chetco and other key waterways. Meanwhile, the hour is growing short for timely government intervention. Mining season opens in a few months. When the diesel motors that power the suction devices open up on the Chetco and other streams, it will be too late.
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