Court makes it tougher on gold miners

A federal appeals court ruling Friday makes it tougher for small-time gold miners to work their claims on federal lands across the West. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in a split decision that the U.S. Forest Service has to consult biologists from other agencies before allowing miners to do anything that might harm salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act. The ruling overturned a District Court decision. The case was brought by the Karuk Tribe in Northern California as part of a longstanding battle to protect struggling salmon from mining on the Klamath River. The tribe traditionally depended upon the salmon for food. 'The Forest Service's decision to place the search for minuscule flakes of gold above the needs of people who rely on clean water, and especially wild salmon, was unconscionable," Leaf Hillman, director of natural resources for the Karuk Tribe, said in a statement. A mining group said the ruling makes it virtually impossible for people to use suction dredges on rivers through federal lands with protected species. The dredges are gasoline-powered vacuums that suck the gravel from river bottoms and concentrate the gold. North Bend Gold Prospectors President Bob Baldwin had not read the decision Monday morning, but said it would undoubtedly negatively affect members of his club. He worries biologists will be unavailable to review applications in a timely fashion, causing prospectors to miss the dredging seasons. 'That is going to stop everything," Baldwin said. 'It looks like the future... is not very bright."...more