Oregon gold mining stand off with BLM….Next bundy ranch

originally posted by: DrumStickNinja
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Holy #! I live in Southern Oregon...I'll have to look into this. Maybe pay some miners a visit. Clarification to OP, Jackson and Josephine county are in Southern Oregon, Jefferson is north and in the central part of the state. Significant distances apart. It will be interesting to see if Josephine and Jackson county side with the miners as well. We're all about what's ours down here, so could get interesting.

Could explain the increase in military air traffic over the last couple weeks. Of course the F-15's do a lot of practicing in the spring...sooo, I won't look to much into that.

At any rate, seems I'm getting my news last...off to investigate.

If you can find out more, please do! I would love to hear more about this from a local that is able to talk to them.

Thanks!

Why don't the miners go to a court of law and get the claim settled? My guess is because they think they are wrong legally. Sorry Charlie.

originally posted by: damwel
Why don't the miners go to a court of law and get the claim settled? My guess is because they think they are wrong legally. Sorry Charlie.

They don't need to....their claim is valid and has been since the 1800's. What is happening is that the BLM is trying to skirt around this law and force them out by bullying.

a reply to: Sremmos80

So teach them not to pay taxes all while reaping the benefits from what taxes provide...

muh roads, muh roads muh, roads, muh roads.

The chant of a cultist.

How else could we make you fall??

Seems to be the trend here.

Maybe there's a rational reason.

Gov is bad so not matter what you do as long as you do it against them it is good.

You are finally starting to catch-on.

I haven't read all of the pages yet , but I just wanted to share this if it hadn't been shared yet. oathkeepersjoco.com... The Josephine County Oathkeeper's page. Has rules for what to bring and what will not be tolerated there.
I followed the Bundy Ranch scenario very closely and have supported the Oathkeepers in much of their philosophy. I have also disagreed with them on several issues via their FB page and was met with even-tempered responses and cordiality. Much respect to them, no matter how the media chooses to partray them.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

This seems to have been brewing for a while...

And if you think this is "old time" mining, think again. Heavy equipment, clearing vegetation, dredging and discharge into rivers ...and on Federal land....Without permits.

It's one thing to get a permit and follow the rules...it's another to not get a permit and move in heavy equipment and start bulldozing the landscape and effen up local waterways, posting no-trespassing signs..on land you don't own.

Just saying...two sides to every story..

Southern Oregon miners file injunction to stop legislation on motorized mining moratorium
www.oregonlive.com...

In June 2011, BLM personnel identified Tracy's mining operation as the source of turbid water that had impacted more than 1.5 miles of Galice Creek
cfpub.epa.gov...

Pics of the illegal mining operations...
mininginsworegon.blogspot.com...

Muddy Waters: Will Oregon Ban Suction Dredge Gold Mining?
www.corvallisadvocate.com...

a reply to: Vasa Croe

According to them...

Are we sure they didn't lose it at some point in the past 200 years?

This whole thread is taking their word cause evil bm and bundy.

Bundy was not in the right, he was a welfare rancher who didn't want to pay.
So when you don't pay your bills you get sent to collections. I am sure all you adults understand this.
The gov can act without out being overreaching in tyrannical.

We have one side of the story and we are taking it is as fact?! Come on now.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe

originally posted by: damwel
Why don't the miners go to a court of law and get the claim settled? My guess is because they think they are wrong legally. Sorry Charlie.

They don't need to....their claim is valid and has been since the 1800's. What is happening is that the BLM is trying to skirt around this law and force them out by bullying.

Yes..the 1872 mining statute remains in effect...as does the clean water act and other regulations on mining that have been lawfully passed into law in the interim.

These legal restrictions appear more needed than ever with modern technology and heavy equipment affording miners the ability to quickly bulldoze large swaths of land and aggressively dredge rivers effecting waterways and wildlife for miles.

Not sure why they should be afforded the legal protections of an 1872 statute while demanding to ignore any laws passed since then?

a reply to: LewsTherinThelamon

If you think roads are the only thing you use that is payed for or payed in part by taxes you are sadly mistaken.

a reply to: Vasa Croe so who is the blm working for who wants that land to mine? i am sure it is a ploy to get the land for someone else. and not because they believe the miners are poluting enviroment or else they would have shut down most of countries coal mines so what is the deal here?

a reply to: damwel

More to the point...they are resting on an 1876 statute that gives them the right to mine on Federal Land, while ignoring any and all laws and regulations that have been passed in the past 150 years concerning HOW they mine on Federal Land.

It is not mysterious that no one is offering the "Cease and Desist" letter from BLM. I expect it to be a laundry list of rational demands with regards to protecting the local environment and waterways that the miners have chosen to ignore in favor of the economic return of heavy equipment and carless dredging of waterways.

Well, the Obama administration can't stand to see people making money. So, they have to try to shut them down.

Go miners! Don;t take that from the BLM! They didn't get a court order, probably because they can't.

This is Galice Creek in the mining district discussed.



This is what one miner felt the 1876 law permitted him to do to that creek without a BLM permit or posting any bond for remediation.







mininginsworegon.blogspot.com...

It is one thing to defend cattle grazing…it’s another to defend Rock Trucks and Backhoes …Just my 2 cents..

originally posted by: Indigo5
This is Galice Creek in the mining district discussed.

This is what one miner felt the 1876 law permitted him to do to that creek without a BLM permit or posting any bond for remediation.

mininginsworegon.blogspot.com...

It is one thing to defend cattle grazing…it’s another to defend Rock Trucks and Backhoes …Just my 2 cents..

While I agree, that sucks. It was a place I would have loved to have spent some time at. I'm an avid hiker, and kayaker. I see places like that every weekend.

However, mining does what it does. This is not the only creek to be deestroyed. Have you ever watched Gold Rush? Some prime Alaskan creeks have been, diverted, and dug up. Parker Shnavel just did it last season.

Why are they allowed, but the Oregon miners are not? They had their mining rights long before the BLM ever existed.

Sorry, but this is this is the BLM doing everything in it's power to take their claims away, without a court order. Because in this case a court will likely not approve it. They probably just want a ton of "fees" from them.

a reply to: poncho1982

How do you know there was no court order?
We have one side of the story here.


Just cause Alaska may allow it doesn't mean Oregon gets to. Different states have different laws on this I am sure.

Sorry this is people taking one side of the story as fact with nothing from the other side.

originally posted by: poncho1982

originally posted by: Indigo5
This is Galice Creek in the mining district discussed.

This is what one miner felt the 1876 law permitted him to do to that creek without a BLM permit or posting any bond for remediation.

mininginsworegon.blogspot.com...

It is one thing to defend cattle grazing…it’s another to defend Rock Trucks and Backhoes …Just my 2 cents..

While I agree, that sucks. It was a place I would have loved to have spent some time at. I'm an avid hiker, and kayaker. I see places like that every weekend.

However, mining does what it does. This is not the only creek to be deestroyed. Have you ever watched Gold Rush? Some prime Alaskan creeks have been, diverted, and dug up. Parker Shnavel just did it last season.

Why are they allowed, but the Oregon miners are not? They had their mining rights long before the BLM ever existed.

I love Gold Rush! Those miners are required to get approval before they divert creeks etc. AND they are required to post bond on "Remediation"...a promise to return the land to the way it was as best they can and plant trees when mining operations are finished depending on environmental impact. Not to mention private land in most cases.

In contrast the OP is in most cases about Federal Land with mining "rights"...and the local miners have taken the position that they have no obligation to get Permits from the Fed. Gov. or respect laws in regards to protecting waterways, the environment etc. As best I can tell from research...the BLM got upset about mining practices, bulldozing, ripping up land, dredging and messing up waterways and the locals stopped applying for permits and abiding by regulations citing an 1876 law which allows the county to issue permits while disregarding any and all federal oversight or federal land.

Two completely different scenarios.

If Gold Rush Alaska did the same thing without getting permits, following regulations and restoring land when required, they would be shut down in a heartbeat.

originally posted by: poncho1982

originally posted by: Indigo5
This is Galice Creek in the mining district discussed.

This is what one miner felt the 1876 law permitted him to do to that creek without a BLM permit or posting any bond for remediation.

mininginsworegon.blogspot.com...

It is one thing to defend cattle grazing…it’s another to defend Rock Trucks and Backhoes …Just my 2 cents..

Have you ever watched Gold Rush? Some prime Alaskan creeks have been, diverted, and dug up. Parker Shnavel just did it last season.

Why are they allowed, but the Oregon miners are not? They had their mining rights long before the BLM ever existed.

directly to your point

But state regulators say the series has so far failed to explain that producers applied for permits and consulted them before tromping into the wild. Sometimes, a state employee was keeping watch, just a few steps off camera. For the most part, the miners went by the book.

"There are just too many rules," said Jackie Timothy, a regional habitat supervisor for Alaska's Department of Fish and Game. "You can't just come up here and tear through rivers, shoot bears and dig trenches."

The miner's one clear violation -- diverting water from that stream and failing to screen it to keep small fish out -- was quickly resolved when a state habitat biologist assigned to monitoring the mining camp showed them how to tap groundwater instead.
Timothy said the producers were hoping the biologist would slap them with a citation.

"They were asking him to," Timothy said. "They were a little unhappy that it couldn't be made into some big thing."

www.oregonlive.com...

Just found this...

originally posted by: JohnnyAnonymous
Just found this...

Thanks! Looks like that was just put up today. I would imagine they have more info to go on than we do here or they would not be heading there right now. Seems we may see this pop up in the news sooner than I thought.

Man these militia guys must have no jobs to be able to just stop what they are doing and be able to go and protest for days on end.