WDFW Announces New Proposed Prospecting Rules

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has announced new proposed rules for mineral prospecting in Washington State. The Department will accept comments on the proposed rules until September 26.

For details, visit the Department's web page here:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hab/goldfish/mineral_prospect.htm

A .pdf file containing the text of the proposed rules may be accessed here:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hab/goldfish/2008_proposed_prospecting_rules.pdf

New Proposed Prospecting Rules for Washington Released

Here is the latest news from WDFW regarding the new proposed mineral prospecting rules:

From: Pat Chapman

Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 8:28 AM

Subject: Proposed mineral prospecting rules filed with Office of the CodeReviser

Mineral Prospecting Rule Development Workgroup:

Please distribute this message to anyone you think might be interested in commenting on proposed rules for mineral prospecting.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has filed proposed rules for mineral prospecting with the Office of the Code Reviser. The proposed rules will be published on September 3, 2008 in the Washington State Register. The official public comment period begins with publication in the register on September 3, and WDFW will accept comments through September 26, 2008. Comments WDFW receives before the official public comment period will be accepted provided they are sent to the following:

Lisa Wood

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

600 Capitol Way N.

Olympia, WA 98501-1091

email: sepadesk@dfw.wa.gov

FAX: (360) 902-2946

We will be posting the proposed rules on WDFW's Habitat internet page soon. On October 3 or 4, 2008 WDFW will present the proposed rules, any adjustments to them warranted by comments, and a synopsis of the comments we have received from the public to the Fish and Wildlife Commission at their meeting in Ellensburg. The Commission will accept further public comments at that meeting. Likely at the Commission’s November meeting they will vote on adopting the rules.

You may view the Washington State Register at: http://www.leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/Washington+State+Register/

WDFW's Habitat internet pages for mineral prospecting can be viewed at:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hab/goldfish/goldfish.htm

Pat Chapman
Regulatory Services Coordinator
Habitat Program
Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way N.
Olympia WA 98501-1091
(360) 902-2571
(360) 902-2946 FAX
chapmpfc@dfw.wa.gov

In addition to the above message, a reliable source has also provided the following pertinent documents:

Proposed Rule Making notice filed with the Office of the Code Reviser
Final Draft of Proposed Mineral Prospecting Rules, Part I
Final Draft of Proposed Mineral Prospecting Rules, Part II

The above links will allow you to view or download these documents as .pdf files.

As the message from Pat Chapman at the beginning of this post states, the deadline for comments on these proposed rules is September 26. This is our chance to get a set of rules we can live with so let's let the good folks at WDFW in Olympia hear from us.

Free Topo Maps of the US and Canada

If you have any use for topographic maps from the USGS, USFS, and Natural Resource Canada, check out Free Printable Topo Maps (http://www.digital-topo-maps.com/).

Getting the maps is easy. You just zoom in to your area of interest in "Map" view (which shows a road map), switch to "My Topo" view, and select the topo zoom level you want. Then click on either "Landscape" or "Portrait" next to "Print from your computer:" located below the map image. A new window will open containing your map. The map of Horseshoe Bend on the Sultan River shown below was captured by right-clicking on the map in this new window and selecting "Save image as..." from the drop-down menu. (Note: The real image measures 1800x1200 pixels and is much more detailed than Blogger's scaled-down view shown here.)



The "Hybrid" view button next to the "My Topo" button shows a satellite image with a road map overlay. Both "Map" and "Hybrid" appear to work for anywhere in the world but "My Topo" only displays results for the US and Canada.

For ease of reference, I have added the link to Free Printable Topo Maps to the "Resources for Prospectors" section of the right-hand sidebar.

Prospecting Information at "Chris' Prospecting Encyclopedia"

In the course of wandering around the World Wide Web I came across a site called Chris' Prospecting Encyclopedia that contains a rather large amount of information covering various aspects of gold prospecting. Although a lot of the material here is geared for California and the Southwest, there is still a great deal of knowledge that would be useful anywhere.

Many of you may already know of this site (which is hosted at nevada-outback-gems.com) but, for those who don't, I've added the link to the "Resources for Prospectors" section in the right-hand sidebar.

Enjoy.

Letters Needed to Protect Dredging in California

As you probably already know, the Karuk Tribe of California has persuaded certain of that state's legislators having a political greenish tinge to attach a rider to the 2008 California budget bill that would place a moratorium on the issuance of suction dredge permits. Were this tactic aimed at banning dredging for gold to succeed in California, it might give certain parties in our fair state (and elsewhere) ideas that could prove detrimental to the activities of us small-scale miners.

Therefore, it may well behoove us to help nip this particular threat in the bud while there is still time to do so. The best way to do that appears to be sending a message to Governor Schwartzenegger urging him to veto the rider. There are detailed instructions on how to do this as well as a sample text which you can copy/paste/modify or use as is at this link:

http://www.goldgold.com/legal/rider_actionalert08.htm

As of this writing, the California legislature has not agreed on a final budget bill but will probably do so sooner rather than later. Therefore, as is usual in matters such as this one, time is of the essence.