<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:bold;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Well…It
was my understanding that Trinity River was included in this petition.
What needs to be changed is the Wild and Scenic designation of these rivers to
a higher class. I believe they’re currently Class 3, but I could be
incorrect on the exact designation. That would stop the dredging.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Byron<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Tribe
seeks to halt suction dredging on parts of the Klamath River<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>The
Redding Record Searchlight – 1/14/09<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By
Dylan Darling<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>An
American Indian tribe from the Klamath River has petitioned the state to ban a
popular form of recreational gold mining on parts of the river and many of its
tributaries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The <b>Karuk
Tribe</b> — along with conservation groups <b>California Trout</b>, <b>Friends
of the North Fork</b> and the <b>Sierra Fund</b> — filed the petition late
last month, asking the California Department of Fish and Game to limit suction
dredging for the sake of salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>"We
are not trying to end gold mining or suction dredging, but we are saying,
‘Let's not mine in the places that are most important to the fish,'
" said Craig Tucker, spokesman for the Happy Camp-based tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>In
the 11-page petition, the tribe asks for a ban on suction dredging where the
creeks and other rivers flow into the Klamath. In suction dredging, miners use
gasoline- or diesel-powered pumps to suck submerged gravel from the waterway
and run it through a sluice box in search of gold.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The
state has until Jan. 25 to respond to the request, which also includes some
creeks in the Sierra Nevada, said Jordan Traverso, deputy director of the DFG's
office of communication.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>"We
are reviewing the complex petition from the tribe, and we have not taken a
position on this at this time," Traverso said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>While
the tribe says suction dredging creates harmful conditions for salmon and
steelhead by clouding the water with mud and stirs up mercury, those who do the
dredging say it actually improves the river for the fish.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>"The
worst thing they could do is ban dredging on the Klamath because of the dams on
the river," said Dan Stamps, a Redding man who has been suction dredging
for 28 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The
dams hold back flood waters that normally would have flushed the river
periodically, shuffling its gravel, he said. Through suction dredging, he said
miners break up packed gravel and create spawning habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>As
for the muddy water, Stamps said a strong rainstorm creates much cloudier water
than suction dredging.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>"Mother
Nature puts more mud into the rivers than all the miners in California all year
long," Stamps said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>While
dredging does bring up mercury — a heavy liquid metal left on bedrock
below gravel bars from 19th century gold mining — Stamps said
recreational miners are doing a good thing because they then haul it out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>"They
don't throw that mercury back into the creek," Stamps said.#<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>