Gold has taken a drop in the past couple of weeks and was down, at the close yesterday, to around $1696. Christmas is around the corner and I hope you all are well on your way to having your shopping finished. We have a houseful of family coming for about 4 days, so we are doing our best to get everything ready for them.
I am posting, for you, my last installment of the Gold Summit. It was presented by
Dave Winters, U.S. Forest Service Stream
Biologist on responsible stream prospecting for gold and preserving stream integrity.
Most gold prospectors are aware that we share the rivers
with fishermen as well as many others. Most of us are, also, fishermen and
women. My Grandmother fished all her
life, as did my Dad and other family members, so I grew up with a healthy
respect for fishing and the out of doors.
As such, I was most interested in what Dave Winters, U.S. Forest Service
Stream Biologist, had to tell us.
According to Dr. Winters, (No one ever did say he was a Dr.,
but I would think that he has that degree) streams are classified as to
gradients of fall. Those that are in
4%-2% (or above) pass sediments easily and quickly. Gradients of 2% and below are multi use and
shared by prospectors, cattle ranchers, fishermen, have few boulders and
meander from bank to bank. These parts
of the rivers are much slower and pass sediments much slower, depending on the
gradient percentage of fall. These are
the areas that are of the most concern and happen regularly along the Front
Range and east in Colorado. Because of
this lessening of gradient fall, all must be watchful of the damage we can do
to the banks of the rivers. A cut into
the bank will cause the rivers, at flood or in run off, to erode the banks even
further, degrading the slope and changing the course of the river as a
consequence. (I know, you think only you
are digging in the bank and it should be OK, but you aren’t and it isn’t)
This erosion in especially harmful to multi users. The preservation of the river bank integrity
is most important in slower parts of the streams and rivers. Bank degradation widens the stream and/or
river making the flow of water even slower, inhibiting the waterway’s ability
to pass sediments, as well as harms fish habitat and can make for dangerous situations
when getting down the bank for animals and humans. How this pertains to gold prospectors is
simple. Don’t dig in the banks. Stay in the streambed.
Anybody know what a Virtual River is? There is a book written about it called
‘Virtual Rivers’ that has some interesting thing s to say about pristine versus
Virtual Rivers. (Sorry, he went through this too fast for me to catch the author). We probably have no
rivers in Colorado that anyone can call ‘pristine’. They have pretty much been disturbed, moved,
crowded, dammed up, and diverted.
Some, like Clear Creek, are no longer able to meander across
their valleys. I-70 and the railroad bed
up highway 6 pretty much makes that impossible, trapping it in a narrow strip
that grinds the bedrock all the time. The South Platte has some 5 reservoirs on
it as well as numerous rail road beds and the debris from their
construction. The North Fork has a
massive water diversion ditch that scours it most of the year. Historic mining, cattle ranching, dredging
and hydraulicking all took their toll on the rivers, as one would assume.
As such, why are we even talking about restrictions on small
scale mining, if the rivers have been already been so beaten up? First, let's remember we share these public areas with so many other users. Our concerns for gold prospecting cannot be the only ones considered. Second, let’s call it personal responsibility by a
public that is better educated and can see the damage that can still be done by these activities, if not conducted responsibly. There are a lot of
us out there during the season, after all, and our places to dig are not that
numerous. So we get concentrated in
areas and we need to be careful we don’t overuse them. We need to educate others and police ourselves,
be respectful of the environment, clean up and restore our public use sites. An interesting thing that was suggested is
for all of you to cut willow sticks and plunge them into the river banks, where
they are lacking, down to water level so that they will root and help stabilize
the banks. Also, be an advocate for invasive species. Remove them or tell authorities where they
can find them.
OK, so we do these
things already, or should, what about officials we have to deal with that have
preconceived perceptions about these activities. You have probably run into them or talked
with them. Mr. Winters says that they
should take a step back and not be controlled by their perceptions, and remember
these are Virtual Rivers, not pristine.
They should be used by everyone who wants to use them in a responsible
manner. Work with prospectors to
identify appropriate areas and regulations for these activities. Get prospectors involved with the process and
use the volunteer help they have with them to resolve problems or clean up
areas to keep them open. However, prospectors need to be respectful of all officials and calmly educate them or ask them to research responsible information of our activities with responsible groups who are in the know.
In closing, Dr. Winters charged us to think like a stream, while we are working in and around them,
and work together to make the situation better.
Oh, and Plant Willows!
I hope this series has brought to light some of the expectations of officials, defined some confusing terms we all use while we are prospecting for gold in Colorado. I will close this series in the next few days with some
information about Gold Unlimited. I did
not begin with them as I felt their place should be last so you will go back
and look them up. As Always,
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
hookedongold@gmail.com
