Mile High Gold Summit Part 3
Jefferson County Open Space was and remains very opened
minded concerning prospecting for gold in Clear Creek Canyons Park Open
Space. The area runs from 58th
to the junction of Highway 119, except for about a mile above tunnel 3 where a
grandfathered in claim is. As those of
you who are from this area know, the canyon has been heavily used by the public
for a very long time, and the Open Space committee has their hands full with
balancing all the users in the canyon.
They will, also, be constructing a bicycle/walking trail through it beginning
now, and have three years to complete the project with grant money to do so.
Their representative, that day, was Colleen Gad who has been
working with prospectors for many years.
In general, they are pleased with most prospectors. However, this past year they have had
increasing problems with people digging way into the banks. Here, I MUST remind all of you…this is OPEN
SPACE. Their rules DO NOT include
removal of ANYTHING. Jefferson County
Open Space is the ONLY open space group I know of that even CONSIDERS allowing
prospecting of any kind on their managed land, much less MOTORIZED use.
Here, again, HIGH WATER MARK MEANS AS FAR ALONG THE
STREAMBED AS THE WATER WILL GO TO THE BANK, AND NOT UP THE BANK. So, what does this mean? NO DIGGING IN THE BANKS!!!! It DOES mean you can dig up the streambed
anywhere high water would cover it. AND
it means you can use a highbanker to do that in an area that allows MOTORIZED
equipment to dig up the STREAMBED where the high water would cover it, in the
Clear Creek Canyons Park Open Space. Off
course, that does NOT mean you can do it
on private property or someone’s claim that is not included in this park. (DEEP
BREATH!) It is YOUR responsibility to
know where you are, AND watch the parking situation. They WILL ticket you for parking
violations. Any questions on this you
can email me.
FILL IN YOUR HOLES!!!!!
I am sick of repeating this, you lazy b*********s! You know who I’m
talking to. I am more than sick of doing
your work for you. YES! I fill in your
holes with a pick and a #2 shovel, and I’m an OLD WOMAN.
Bucketing of material off the high benches is NOT ALLOWED. You, also, cannot fill buckets with material,
put them in the truck, and take them home or anywhere else with you. This is Open Space! You cannot take anything out with you but the
cons. ALL material must be worked where
you are. If you see anyone violating the
rules and regs, get a picture of the vehicle, person and license plate and turn
it in to police. Ms. Gad gave us a hand
out on the rules for this area. Rather
than put them all in this blog post, I will post them on the website in the next few
weeks.
A question was asked about the rock piles along Clear Creek
in the Open Space Park, and whether you can work them or not The answer was NO as the Prebble Mouse was
found living in the piles.
We also had a discussion about the use of the Arapahoe City
area, just east of the Coors Brewery property.
Right now, prospectors are being allowed to work here, but it is under the
City of Wheatridge’s management, even though it is Jefferson County
property. It is a confusing situation,
and Wheatridge is working with gold prospectors right now, however some issues
are cropping up that may shut this area down.
First and foremost is the issue of working into the
banks. AGAIN, work in the streambed as
far as the water will cover it when there is high water, not the banks. Recently, there was a hole opened up in the
bank that cut straight through it. This
will erode the bank at run off.
Volunteers are being asked to help with closing this hole. If this sort of thing continues, it is most
certain Wheatridge will take action to prevent it. REMEMBER to work AWAY from the bike
path. Undercut that, and no one will be
allowed to work in this area.
That’s all I have right now on Clear Creek. I will be updating the website with this
information in the next month or so.
Sometime between unpacking and Christmas. LOL! I
do hope your gold prospecting season was a good one.
We had a lot of fun for the short time we had in the mountains this
year. Not sure who I will be reporting
on next, but I have all day to decide.
As Always,
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau,
No comments:
Post a Comment