![]() She is a long time member of Trout Unlimited and currently is a member of the Washington State TU advocacy committee. Kim is a trained forester, working with clients in the Pacific Northwest on restoration of dry land forest landscapes and riparian areas. It would also end this mining practice in Oregon streams considered impaired by elevated levels of pollution.This guest post is from Kim McDonald, who is the founder of Fish Not Gold, which advocated for regulatory reform on motorized mining in Washington State. ![]() ![]() The Solution: A bill before the Oregon State Legislature would permanently end all suction dredge mining within Oregon’s Essential Salmonid Habitat and across designated bull trout and lamprey habitats. While restrictions have increased in Idaho and California due to impacts on fish, miners have rushed to unregulated Oregon to cash in as gold prices hit record highs. Mining in the floodplain involves the construction of pits that bleed sediment into streams and capture and strand threatened juvenile salmon.īetween 20, Oregon nearly tripled the number of permits issued for suction dredge mining. Suction dredge gold mining may also include the removal of trees that shade our streams and provide critical aquatic habitat. Sediment is then discharged back into the river, impairing water quality and fish habitat. Materials from the riverbed go through a sluice where heavy metals drop out, in particular gold. Suction dredge gold mining is a practice in which riverbeds are “vacuumed up” by a large, loud, and gas-powered floating machine.
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