Deadline Nears for Comments on New Rules

The deadline for submitting comments on the new small-scale placer mining rules drafted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is January 23. You can find the text of the proposed rules here. Comments should be mailed to Lisa Wood, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way N, Olympia, WA 98501-1091; FAXed to Lisa Wood at (360) 902-2946; or emailed to SEPADesk@dfw.wa.gov.

In the meantime WDFW is hosting two more public workshops at which they will "describe the proposed rules to those attending so that they can make informed written comment to WDFW or verbal comment to the Commission during the rule adoption hearing in early February." Dates and times of the remaining workshops are:

• January 15, 2008 - WDFW Regional Office, 2108 Grand Boulevard, Vancouver, WA, 7-9 pm
• January 16, 2008 - WDFW Regional Office, 16018 Mill Creek Boulevard, Mill Creek, WA, 7-9 pm

The Fish and Wildlife Commission's rule adoption hearing is scheduled to be held in Olympia on February 1 and 2.

If you are a placer miner or prospector I urge you to study and comment on these proposed rules. In general, the work windows for in-stream dredging and sluicing have been either drastically shortened or started in the late Summer or Fall and extended through the Winter months while other rules are what I can only describe as "crazy". When you submit comments to WDFW, I think it would be a good idea to also submit a copy directly to the Commission. Their address is: Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091; FAX: 360-902-2448; email: commission@dfw.wa.gov. Also, the Resources Coalition has requested copies of all comments.

The WDFW webpage with this information is: http://wdfw.wa.gov/hab/goldfish/mineral_prospect.htm.

The Commission's homepage is: http://wdfw.wa.gov/com/comintro.htm.