Miner sentenced to a year in prison for operating illegally

U.S. District Court Judge Owen M. Panner sentenced Clifford Randall Tracy, 40, to one year in prison for conducting unlawful mining operations on lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Tracy was also ordered to pay $4,360 restitution for reclamation costs, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a news release.

A jury found Tracy guilty of this illegal mining charge in December.

In February 2011, Tracy had proposed a gold mining operation on BLM lands on Galice Creek in Josephine County. BLM officials informed Tracy that he must submit a plan of operations and post a bond before beginning any mining activity because his mining proposal affected critical habitat for threatened fish species.

However, Tracy ignored the agency's process and started mining in May, using heavy equipment to clear vegetation, to excavate a large holding pond, and to process soil, disturbing land alongside Galice Creek and sending sediment into the waterway. His illegal mining activity was discovered in June when BLM geologists observed sediment in Galice Creek more than a mile downstream from the mining site. Despite getting a cease and desist order from the BLM in June, Tracy continued to mine there.

Tracy's previous illegal mining conviction was in November 2009 for an operation along Sucker Creek in Josephine County. In that case, Tracy became frustrated with the Forest Service approval process and began mining without any permits. He used heavy equipment to construct aroad, excavate a large holding pond, and cut several large trees, resulting in damages totaling $30,695 for rehabilitation costs and lost timber value.

He was sentenced to one year probation, with no fine, restitution, or imprisonment in the 2009 case.

The one-year sentence in the present case is the maximum that may be imposed under federal law, prosecutors said.