Contact:
Gabe Scott, In-House Counsel (907) 491-0856; gscott@old.cascwild.org

Olympia, WA — A milestone for aquatic health was achieved today when the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously ordered the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to initiate a rulemaking process that would require individual permits for suction dredge mining in the state.

Suction dredge mining has become controversial throughout the West due to its impacts on aquatic ecosystems and salmon health. The practice requires the use of a motorized, floating dredge to vacuum up the streambed as miners look for gold flecks. Science has show that the process destabilizes the streambed environment, releasing plumes of silt and mercury and harming fish.

“Today’s vote is a significant victory for salmon and river health in the Evergreen State,” said Gabriel Scott, In-House Counsel for Cascadia Wildlands, who provided testimony in advance of the Commission’s vote. “The Commission deserves a lot of credit and wisely recognized that Washington can’t afford to keep giving suction dredge miners a free pass as they suck up our rivers in search of gold.”

Due to its impacts on watershed health, suction dredge mining has recently been reformed in neighboring states. California banned the practice in 2009 and earlier this year the US Supreme Court upheld the ban. In the 2017, the Oregon legislature outlawed the practice in key salmon waterways, and Idaho now requires stricter permitting to better protect its rivers.

Prior to today’s vote, Washington allowed suction dredge mining to occur without a permit. However, the state still allows the practice to occur in designated critical habitat for Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and trout. Rivers important to salmon recovery, like the Nooksack, Peshastin, Methow and Wenatchee, have been hit hard by the practice.

“While today’s vote was a positive step forward, the state must make sure that adequate protections are put into place to ensure salmon and our rivers are protected from the impacts of suction dredge mining,” Scott added.

Cascadia Wildlands’ current lawsuit, Cascadia Wildlands vs. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, was mentioned often in the Commission’s deliberations today, and the issues addressed by the Commission mirror the claims of the litigation. The lawsuit is currently pending in Washington Superior Court in Thurston County, and it is set for oral hearing in Olympia on July 6.

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The post Press Release: WA Fish and Wildlife Commission Orders Rulemaking to Require Permits for Suction Dredge Mining first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

The post Press Release: Oregon House of Representatives Passes Suction-Dredge Mining Reform Bill first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Exploring these places was, of course, a highlight of the summer. In June, I joined Cascadia Wildlands’ Executive Director Josh Laughlin, Wildlands Campaign Director Robin Meacher, and a number of Cascadia members on a hike into the 30,500-acre proposed Devils Staircase wilderness down to the namesake waterfall in the Oregon Coast Range. The experience was incredible. Having to navigate and bushwhack through such an untouched place provides a much different experience. It’s hard, and it’s worth it. Nothing can be taken for granted. It is impossible to ignore the thickets of underbrush that grab at your ankles, or the call of an owl when you stop to catch your breath, or the sunlight punching through the canopy illuminating a pink rhododendron. We reached the Devils Staircase bruised, sweaty, and happy – ready for the refreshing water. And it was all ours for the afternoon. The forest gifted us salmonberries on the final stretch home.

The post Blog: Summer Interning with Cascadia Wildlands first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Forrest English, Rogue Riverkeeper, (541) 261-2030
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746
Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 844-7118
Glen Spain, PCFFA, (541) 689-2000

Conservation, Fishing Groups Move to Join Lawsuit to Protect Oregon From Gold Mining Impacts

Groups Defend Restrictions on Mining Practices Harmful to Salmon, Waterways, Wildlife

MEDFORD, Ore.— To defend an Oregon law designed to protect wildlife from damaging gold mining along waterways, a broad coalition of groups moved to intervene today in a lawsuit by mining interests challenging the restrictions. Passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2013, Senate Bill 838 placed restrictions on gold mining using suction dredges and other motorized equipment along streams to prevent harmful impacts to salmon and develop a permitting process to better protect Oregon’s waterways. Miners are now alleging that the state law conflicts with federal laws passed in the 1800s to encourage westward expansion.

“We are defending the state of Oregon and the choice by its residents to protect iconic waterways and scenic rivers from damaging mining practices,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “Asserting there is a ‘right to mine’ granted by an antiquated law from the 1800s is simply ridiculous.”

Suction dredge mining involves the use of a large, gas-powered vacuum to suck up gravel on the bottom of rivers in search of gold flakes. This practice targets gravel beds critical to salmon spawning and reproduction, and damages water quality and river hydrology. Motorized mining along streams clears riparian vegetation important for keeping streams cool for salmon survival, increases erosion, damages streamside wetlands and alters the floodplain.

“Suction dredge mining pollutes our waterways with toxic mercury, clouds streams with sediment, hurts endangered fish and wildlife and destroys cultural resources,” said Jonathan Evans, environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Oregonians have the right to safeguard the health of their families, waterways and wildlife from this damaging, outdated form of mining.”

The bill does not ban the mining practices, but simply puts in place temporary restrictions to protect areas critical to salmon and bull trout reproduction. The restrictions buy the state time to develop a regulatory regime for the relatively new mining practice.

“Motorized mining in and along our sensitive salmon streams is harmful to fish and water quality,” said Forrest English with Rogue Riverkeeper. “It’s high time to put the brakes on these methods of mining until long term solutions are developed that protect clean water and habitat for salmon.”

Concerns over this mining practice were heightened when miners began targeting iconic and high-use Oregon waterways and their tributaries.

“Several south coast salmon-rich rivers are under threat from heavy suction-dredge mining every summer, especially the world-famous Rogue River, the Chetco River and their tributaries,” said Cameron La Follette with Oregon Coast Alliance. “The salmon economy is critically important to local communities on the south coast such as Brookings and Gold Beach. Oregon must restrict suction dredging to protect salmon habitat, water quality and community livelihood.”

There are also concerns by numerous commercial and recreational organizations that suction dredge and other motorized mining practices are disruptive and harmful to fishing, an industry that generates approximately $780 million a year in spending in Oregon.

“Letting a handful of people suck up whole river bottoms looking for flecks of gold makes no economic sense, since it destroys salmon habitat and just puts more commercial fishing families out of work,” said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, a major commercial fishing industry association that is also intervening. “Senate Bill 838’s passage by the legislature simply recognized that it is not a good idea for the state of Oregon to continue to use taxpayer money to heavily subsidize the destruction of our rivers.”

The groups are also looking to protect the public’s investment in salmon restoration. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been expended to restore streams damaged by past mining and industrial practices. The use of suction dredges and motorized mining equipment has been undoing many of these efforts.

“Allowing gas-powered dredges and heavy equipment to damage our delicate salmon streams directly undermines the $254 million investment Oregonians have made in salmon habitat restoration,” said Mark Sherwood with the Native Fish Society. “Oregonians and wild salmon deserve better.”

The intervening organizations include Rogue Riverkeeper, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and Institute for Fisheries, the Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Coast Alliance, Native Fish Society and Cascadia Wildlands. They are represented by Pete Frost of the Western Environmental Law Center and Roger Flynn of Western Mining Action Project.

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The post Cascadia Wildlands Joins Lawsuit to Protect Wild Salmon and Clean Water from Gold Mining first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

When reading Tim Egan’s recent op-ed in the New York Times on salmon I was reminded of an “aha” moment I recently experienced at the Tongass talk I gave for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Science Pub.  Towards the end of the talk I asked the crowd of 90 or so if anyone had never eaten salmon.  No one raised their hand.  No one.

"…what if I told you that the trees are here, in part, because of the salmon? That the trees that shelter and feed the fish, that help build the fish, are themselves built by the fish?" Carl Safina, essayist for “Salmon in the Trees” by Amy Gulick (2010)

When I say “we are salmon,” it is really quite literal because some part of our chemical makeup comes from salmon.  When we consume salmon we certainly derive energy and enjoy taste but our body also takes part of that salmon and incorporates it physically. As Carl Safina suggests above our forests are built in part from salmon, but so are we and we should remember and honor that happenstance.  

Perhaps this is why it is or should be so important for us to fight for salmon and why it has become so important for this organization to stand up against clearcutting of the Tongass, the Elliott and the O&C lands.  It is also the reason why we have opposed GMO salmon and suction dredging for gold in our rivers.  While it is great that we have taken these public stances, you need to channel your inner fish and do likewise.  The good news is that there are many opportunities for this locally, regionally and nationally.

Feel Your Fins and Let Your Activism Swim:

Comment on the Tongass clearcutting schemes

Attend the October 1st Rally for Forests in Portland and Send Senator Wyden your thoughts on the O&C Lands  

The post We are Salmon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact
Josh Laughlin, Cascadia Wildlands, 541.844.8182
Erik Fernandez, Oregon Wild, 971.230.4484
Forrest English, Rogue Riverkeeper, 541.261.2030

Salem, OR — Outdoor businesses, the commercial fishing industry, fisheries experts, and conservation organizations applaud the passage of Senate Bill 838 and SB 401 by the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee last night. The legislation aims to protect water quality and salmon in Oregon’s iconic river systems from the impacts of harmful suction dredge mining.

“These bills safeguard Oregon’s famed rivers, which means more business and more people enjoying them for the long term,” says Frank Armendariz, owner of River Trail Outfitters in Eugene. “As our population grows so will demand for river access, and that underscores the critical need to protect these special rivers from harmful activity like suction dredge mining.”

Suction dredge mining in waterways involves the use of gasoline-powered vacuums, mounted on floating rafts, which suck up the riverbed in search of gold. Scientific evidence demonstrates that the practice harms the early stages of fish development, fish habitat, invertebrate and bivalve communities (fish food), and stirs up toxic mercury. There has been a spike in suction dredge mining in Oregon since California enacted a moratorium on the practice in 2009 due to its impacts on salmon. Between 2005-2012, there was a 580% increase in suction dredge mining in Oregon, going from 414 to 2,409 permits issued.

SB 838 calls for a time out in the form of a moratorium on suction dredge mining in Oregon waterways currently designated as Essential Salmon Habitat. These rivers have been recognized as being significant due to their importance in protecting and recovering salmon runs. The moratorium would be replaced in 2018 by a modernized permit system for suction dredge mining to better protect river habitat.

“Vacuuming up river bottoms in search of gold flecks is not in the interest of our clean water and wild salmon legacy,” says Josh Laughlin with Cascadia Wildlands. “We need a new permitting system that safeguards these values that make Oregon so special.”

SB 401 would require the state of Oregon to study what rivers should be added to the State Scenic Waterway system. The analysis would consider iconic rivers like the Illinois, Rogue, South Umpqua, Grande Ronde, Sandy, Molalla, and other renowned rivers across the state. State Scenic Waterways have a proven track record of balancing conservation and development. In particular, this level of protection prevents dams and suction dredge mining. Many of these waterways provide communities with clean drinking water. The state is currently 24 years over due to make recommendations to the system. SB 401 requires the state to finalize the study within two years.

“We are very worried about the drastic increase in suction dredge mining in Oregon’s iconic rivers, especially rivers that serve as drinking water sources,” says Erik Fernandez of Oregon Wild. “I would certainly prefer to not have toxic mercury stirred up in my municipal watershed.”

In early April, the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society sent a letter to Oregon legislators outlining the myriad impacts suction dredging has on fish. One of the letter’s recommendations was to prohibit or greatly reduce suction dredge mining in areas used for spawning by sensitive fish stocks. This followed a similar letter issued by the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society prior to the California moratorium.

“The science is very clear. When salmon lay eggs in unnatural gravel piles left by mining, the eggs are dramatically more likely to be washed away and destroyed in winter storms,” says Forrest English of Rogue Riverkeeper. “We simply don’t have the threatened salmon eggs to spare.”

Increases in suction dredging in rivers like the Rogue have led to complaints from nearby landowners of illegal trespassing and noisy engines running in the river, as well as river damage to salmon habitat.

The bills now move on to the Ways and Means Committee. At the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the bills on Monday, Governor Kitzhaber’s office expressed support for a moratorium on suction dredge mining while a new permitting system is developed. The commercial fishing industry, outdoor recreation industry and fisheries experts also testified in favor of the legislation.

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Click here to read SB 838.
Click here to read SB 401.
Click here to read the Oregon Chapter of American Fisheries Society letter to legislators.

The post Press Release: Bills to Curb Suction Dredge Mining Approved by Key Senate Committee first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.