June 14th gold dredging & Kayak prospecting

South Carolina has some good gold as well, been dredging there alot this year already..
 

Nitric and I both hit sweetwater creek in villa rica. The same creek that runs through the state park miles away. We found nothing but gobs and gobs of black sands
 

Duckwalk said:
Nitric and I both hit sweetwater creek in villa rica. The same creek that runs through the state park miles away. We found nothing but gobs and gobs of black sands
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I seen on another forum, people pulling good gold out of there.. They camp and prospect.
 

KiddoTheMiner said:
how did you get permission from all the land owners on the kayaking video, must have had to talk to a lot of people
Click to expand...
ywevis said:
National Forest duh!
Click to expand...

Not trying to take sides but KiddoTheMiner has brought up a very important point here.

The Eastern "Forests" are actually "Purchase Units" managed by the Department of Agriculture - they are not the same as the National Forests found on the public land in the western states. These unit areas are declared by Congress as areas that they would like to purchase the private land in. Sometimes the Congress even approves some money to complete the purchase. Seldom are these declared Purchase Units actually bought from the landowners (they don't have to sell their land and seldom do). The Uwharrie is a newer Purchase Unit and is the smallest one in the US.

Here is where it gets tricky. Most of the lands designated for the Uwharrie purchase area are still in private hands. Yep - it's almost all private land. So besides not being an actual National Forest the purchase plan hasn't gained much steam in those parts. Very little land has been bought and what land has been purchased generally only has surface rights. The owners didn't sell the minerals or the timber or their water rights!

Here is a PDF download of a map representing the actual area that has been purchased, and is no longer wholly private land in the Uwharrie Purchase Unit. As you can see only about 30% of the "Forest" land actually belongs to the US, the rest is still private land. More importantly probably no more than 8 miles or so of the larger rivers and creeks there are actually owned by the US. Look close and you will see that these US owned areas are really patchy and with the exception of maybe a mile of the Uwharrie river itself the US owned portions of the waterways are only a few hundred yards in a stretch at most.

I'm bringing up this point because I often see posts that are confused about why the Eastern Forests don't allow prospecting. The simplest answer is they are never actual National Forests that are Public Land and often are not even US controlled lands. In fact most of the "Forest" land east of the Rocky Mountains is actually private property and can't be prospected without the owners permission.

If you want to find out what parts of an Eastern "Forest" are US owned you will need to search for a "Purchase Unit Map" for your area of interest. Looking at Forest Service maps will only show you the area they have been approved to make purchases in. Keep in mind that even though the US has bought some of these lands that doesn't necessarily mean that they bought the mineral rights (subsurface rights) too. Even if they did buy the mineral rights they don't have to let you prospect there. Under US law purchased lands are not in the public domain and are not public land as the lands in the western states are.

I hope that clears up any misunderstandings about prospecting in "National Forests" in the eastern states.

Heavy Pans
 

Clay Diggins said:
Not trying to take sides but KiddoTheMiner has brought up a very important point here.

The Eastern "Forests" are actually "Purchase Units" managed by the Department of Agriculture - they are not the same as the National Forests found on the public land in the western states. These unit areas are declared by Congress as areas that they would like to purchase the private land in. Sometimes the Congress even approves some money to complete the purchase. Seldom are these declared Purchase Units actually bought from the landowners (they don't have to sell their land and seldom do). The Uwharrie is a newer Purchase Unit and is the smallest one in the US.

Here is where it gets tricky. Most of the lands designated for the Uwharrie purchase area are still in private hands. Yep - it's almost all private land. So besides not being an actual National Forest the purchase plan hasn't gained much steam in those parts. Very little land has been bought and what land has been purchased generally only has surface rights. The owners didn't sell the minerals or the timber or their water rights!

Here is a PDF download of a map representing the actual area that has been purchased, and is no longer wholly private land in the Uwharrie Purchase Unit. As you can see only about 30% of the "Forest" land actually belongs to the US, the rest is still private land. More importantly probably no more than 8 miles or so of the larger rivers and creeks there are actually owned by the US. Look close and you will see that these US owned areas are really patchy and with the exception of maybe a mile of the Uwharrie river itself the US owned portions of the waterways are only a few hundred yards in a stretch at most.

I'm bringing up this point because I often see posts that are confused about why the Eastern Forests don't allow prospecting. The simplest answer is they are never actual National Forests that are Public Land and often are not even US controlled lands. In fact most of the "Forest" land east of the Rocky Mountains is actually private property and can't be prospected without the owners permission.

If you want to find out what parts of an Eastern "Forest" are US owned you will need to search for a "Purchase Unit Map" for your area of interest. Looking at Forest Service maps will only show you the area they have been approved to make purchases in. Keep in mind that even though the US has bought some of these lands that doesn't necessarily mean that they bought the mineral rights (subsurface rights) too. Even if they did buy the mineral rights they don't have to let you prospect there. Under US law purchased lands are not in the public domain and are not public land as the lands in the western states are.

I hope that clears up any misunderstandings about prospecting in "National Forests" in the eastern states.

Heavy Pans
Click to expand...

This is why I void public land around Georgia in the first place
its restricted and confusing
 

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