There’s gold in them thar waters. And Idaho miners and politicians aim to suck it.
Last week an Idaho House committee advanced a bill to permit suction dredging in some of the most pristine rivers in the west. The Middle Fork of the Salmon, Clearwater, and Lochsa rivers are among the waters with protected salmon, steelhead, and bull trout populations that would be opened to mining. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said the bill directly conflicts with several state and federal protections including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Miners, on the other hand, are apparently fed up with federal regulations protecting fish. “We’re very frustrated dredge miners,” David Seyer told the committee. “Please allow us to do what we love to do by sucking up some gold from the river. We’re not doing any harm.” They also love to suck up salmon eggs. Others said dredging actually improves rivers and doesn’t conflict with the Clean Water Act.
According to Wasden, trying to skirt federal laws will incur federal lawsuits. But that won’t stop Idaho from trying.
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.