Declaring War on Dredging in Oregon

ncclaymaker

Sr. Member
Aug 26, 2011
370
316
Champlain, NY on the Canadian border.
Detector(s) used
Minelab 1000, A Motorized Power Glider Trike, 17 foot travel trailer behind my Jeep. 4" suction dredge/high banker.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Guys - I didn't write the article, just presenting it. So, get upset with the politician, not me. We're getting just as screwed up in NC as they are. Best of luck.

Heads up in the State of Oregon... The looney bin river keepers and politicians are trying their best to screw all of us. Before you know it, breaking wind will be a misdemeanor and taking a pee in the river will be a felony. This guy's a misinformed "Just vote no party" hack, that believes that government should stay out of our lives, and us out of our rivers and streams.

Here's the text, the link to the article is at the bottom.

August 20, 2010

By Chris Conrad
Mail Tribune
Within minutes of arriving at the Rogue River on Thursday, state Sen. Jason Atkinson was already drafting legislation in his head after spotting a line of suction dredge miners with out-of-state license plates scouring the bottom of the river for gold.

Atkinson, R-Central Point, is drawing up plans to ban suction dredge mining in Oregon.

"I have a history with these fellas," Atkinson said. "I've seen what they do to rivers in California and it's not going to happen in Oregon."

There has been a bump in suction dredge mining in Southern Oregon since California banned the practice a year ago.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued 1,205 dredging permits this year, a 30 percent increase from last year. Permit holders who list California as their address jumped from 51 last year to 85 this year, a 67 percent increase, The Associated Press reported.

Atkinson intends his new law to mirror the California moratorium. He also wants the DEQ to take a serious look at the environmental impact suction dredge mining has on Oregon's rivers and streams.

"I am very angry with the DEQ for giving so many permits to miners from out of this state," he said.

On Thursday afternoon, there were about a dozen dredge operations running along the river just downstream from the ruins of Gold Ray Dam.

Dredge mining involves sucking silt and rock from the river bottom into a strainer that collects gold. Mining has been increasingly popular over the past few years because the price of gold has risen steadily during the recession. Gold rose to $1,235 per ounce Thursday, a seven-week high.

Keith Lemons, who lives near the Rogue River, said a bigger group of dredge miners has descended on the river in recent weeks.

"I've spoken to people who said they've seen 30 of them out here at a time," Lemons said.

Christopher Lowrance of Arizona was among the gold-seeking hopefuls who placed a dredging machine along the river bank.

Lowrance has camped along the river for two months and said he used to reap $48 in gold per hour before the destruction of Gold Ray Dam.

"The dam going out hurt us," he said. "It makes it harder to see and increases the danger because you don't know if rocks or logs are coming down the river."

One miner was struggling in the river on Thursday after a log cruised by and snagged his boat attached to his dredger.

Lowrance said he would be in California right now if the state would reopen its river to dredge miners.

"The Klamath River is a great place to dredge," he said. "There's lots of gold down there. There's lots of gold here too, but it's harder to find."

Numerous studies have determined that suction dredging harms fish by stirring up silt on the river bottom. The dredges also can suck up fish eggs as they pass over the river bed.

Lowrance argues that suction mining can help fish by kicking up fresh food for them and digging holes in the river that they can use for spawning beds.

"We also collect all the lead weights and lead bullets we find in the water," he said. "We have found mercury in the rivers and we collect that, too."

Lowrance worked with a crew of five miners, two of whom made the trip from North Carolina in the hopes of striking gold in the Rogue River.

But if Atkinson gets his way in the Legislature in the coming session, this will be the last season Lowrance and his crew will dredge Oregon rivers.

"This will not stand," Atkinson said.





http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100820/NEWS/8200331
 

The hell with that!

I say we find where this hippy lives and give him a good ol fashioned beat down. I may end up in jail on and off here soon because if it gets banned here in Oregon I'm not stopping. Hell, I'll build a dredge off a pontoon boat and stay on it for weeks while dredging as a protest. Chain myself to it and what not. They'll have to drag me out.
 

That was an older article and since then I do believe that Atkinson was
"cautioned" about letting his mouth overload his ego. :nono:
Gold Nuggets :wave:
 

Well that's good.

A little off topic, but hey gold nuggets, I was actually in Springfield and Eugene yesterday delivering loads to the walmarts there. Was not expecting that much snow. Made for a miserable day.
 

All that snow was a surprise for sure Oragonads. It did cause a lot of folks to "re-evaluate" their snow driving skills. :laughing7: Trees and power lines down from the weight of the snow all over the place. Glad you had a safe trip back home. Now I gotta wait some more for the rivers to go back down!
Gold Nuggets :wave:
 

This article was a year and a half ago. What has changed since then?

To the best of my knowledge, nothing has really changed as far as the dredging laws goes for Oregon waters. You will still need to get the appropriate permits for the type of dredging you plan to do. Gold Nuggets :wave:
 

Old article or not I wouldn't put past that Marxist/Socialist scum sucker to be ginning something new up. Hey Oragonads I don't know what you meanby a "beat down" but a good old noisy picket line in front of his cave with chants like "go back to Kalifornia" and "we don't want no socialist here" might be appropriate.

Gramps
 

I heard that Dave McCraken and his outfit the new 49ers are moving up Oregonian way.
He will want to protect his wallet, oops I mean investments for his own interests. You'll all be saved by the master himself, no?
Just hope to heck he don't leave it a giant mess like he did here in California, the whole reason he is moving up that way.
 

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I heard that Dave McCraken and his outfit the new 49ers are moving up Oregonian way.
He will want to protect his wallet, oops I mean investments for his own interests. You'll all be saved by the master himself, no?
Just hope to heck he don't leave it a giant mess like he did here in California, the whole reason he is moving up that way.

Don't be too hard on the New 49ers or the GPAA either Gravel Hog....The mining community in Nor Cal and a lot of other places have been slowly taken advantage of by the Environmentalists, the USDF&G, the USFS and the BLM for a number of years now. Too many folks that are in the position of "making policy" for the recreational miners are getting their "kick backs" by slowly choking the recreational miner to death with new guidelines and regulations..... or by just regulating the regulations to suit their agendas. The same thing seems to be happening all over the country and it won't stop until those that make those "policies" are either educated about their short-comings or removed from a position of "policy-making" or both.............just saying..... Gold Nuggets :wave:
 

Saturday morning Jog and I were heading to his beach honey hole when while driving next to the river he mentioned that the fish get along quite in the muddy water after heavy rain run-off fills them. I said that you could fill the river with dredgers every 50 yrds from Beaver, OR to the bridge on 101 crossing the river leading into Hebo, OR and the river wouldn't anywhere as dirty as it was then. Me thinks this needs to be brought up at one of these hearings and shoved right up the enviros noses.

Gramps
 

From what I understand...the New 49's are headed Oregon way. So am I, I just recently inheriated my dad's dredge and am dyin to get it wet....been sittin in his yard for the last 20yrs or so. Am workin on gettin the permits but am scared to death on were to go. Don't wanna step on anyone's toe's or end up on someone's claim. Does anyone know about Dredging the Rogue...I hear about a lot of ppl around the gold hills area, Or the Oregon side of Beaver creek just out of Hilt? My traveling distance is limited due to my awesome old truck and it's whole 16 gallons a mile, Rogue area would be about my limit. Either way hope to see some of you guys on the water this year.

P.S. I've given up hope of ever dredging in Cali ever again.....way to much insanity runnin the state!!
 

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