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NFARA Summer 2011 Update

            The 3rd Annual Winter's Over, Get Back to the Canyon, NFARA's free kickoff-to-Spring event, held May 7th at the Dutch Flat Community Center, was a grand success. Approximately 90 people attended. Due to the great turnout last year, we changed a few things for this year’s event. The main event was held upstairs, with refreshments and NFARA information table downstairs. This gave us adequate room for seating and the audience loved being in the historic auditorium. A new public address system ensured all could hear the presentations.

            Bob Suter started the evening with a couple of his favorite cowboy poems. Jim Ricker gave reports on NFARA activities over the past year. Judy Suter followed with a report on Park Watch, a non-profit web based trail incident reporting system (see below). NFARA is the latest group to get involved with this project, and Park Watch cards, with agency contact information, were passed out to the audience.

            Bill Carnazzo gave the featured presentation, a slide show on hike-in fishing. Bill, a professional fishing guide and NFARA board member, concentrated on the North and Middle Forks of the American River and their tributaries. He discussed catch and release fishing, the equipment to bring, good spots to try, and the threats to our outstanding wild fisheries, like suction dredge mining. Excellent photographs of the streams, pools, and fish entertained the crowd.

            The evening ended with lots of socializing around the dessert table.

            A special thanks goes to Bill Carnazzo, Bob Suter, and all who contributed to the refreshments for helping make the event a success. We look forward to doing more events like this in the future.

Park Watch

            Park Watch is a non-profit web-based trail incident reporting system. The website, www.parkwatch.org, was originally created for Folsom Lake and Auburn State Recreation Areas, in response to some incidents involving horseback riders, bicyclists, and other trail users. It now covers all trails in five counties. Incidents can include motorized vehicles on non-motorized trails, illegal camping, illegal fires, as well as trees across trails and washouts. Park Watch is a one-stop website for all local trail and public land related issues and alerts and a calendar of events. The site is updated daily.

            All trail incident reports are forwarded to the appropriate Park Supervisor or law enforcement agency, as well as serve as a permanent record and for data collection. In the future, Park Watch will add more State Parks, public land areas and Park Districts in central and northern California. Regardless of the area or trail, you are encouraged to report all trail incidents. NFARA is the most recent group to participate. The cards we developed to give to trail users includes contact information for Auburn and Folsom State Recreation Areas, as well as for Tahoe National Forest.

            Keep our parks and trails safe for everyone. We encourage everyone, including those not part of the formal Park Watch program, to file Trail Incident Reports and send all trail alerts, news articles, calendar submissions, trail closures, trail events and trail race/competition information regarding Placer, El Dorado, Nevada, Yuba and Sacramento counties to info@ParkWatchReport.org.

Suction Dredge Mining

            The California Department of Fish and Game, CDFG, has released its proposed regulations on suction dredge mining. This form of mining uses a powerful motor and pump, attached to a hose, used to suction up gravel from the stream bottom. Gold is sorted out from the gravel and the remaining sediment-ladened water is flushed back into the stream. The adverse impacts of this mining are well documented by scientists. Suction dredging can raise toxic mercury from the stream bottom, left from the Gold Rush into the stream water, and can harm habitat for sensitive, threatened, and endangered fish and frogs.

            Previous state regulations failed to recognize these impacts and a lawsuit filed by Native American tribes and other organizations forced the agency to develop new regulations. In the meantime, the California Legislature approved a moratorium, in effect since 2009, on suction dredging.

            The proposed new regulations fail to ensure that mining does not harm water quality and human health with sediment and mercury. Special areas like Wild & Scenic Rivers and Wild Trout Streams are not protected in the regulations. The regulations would even permit suction dredge mining in Yosemite Valley, in violation of federal law. In addition, regulation enforcement would rely on active enforcement from CDFG, which, like other state agencies, is suffering from severe budget cuts.

            The North Fork American River was off-limits to suction dredging under previous regulations. The NF is both a State and Federally designated Wild and Scenic River. CDFG has identified the NF as a Wild Trout Stream, stating The aquatic habitat, including water quality and bottom conditions, should be protected to preserve the quality of the native fishery. The new regulations did not consider these facts and they allow year-round suction dredging upstream of Big Valley Canyon and seasonally, in September, from Big Valley downstream to the Iowa Hill Bridge. NFARA opposes the proposed regulations and believes that suction dredging should be prohibited in all Wild and Scenic Rivers and Wild Trout Streams.

            On May 3, 2011, the Placer County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution, proposed by the county Fish and Game Commission, authorizing the Board Chairman to write CDFG to oppose the proposed regulations. The letter urges CDFG to revise the regulations and:

  • Ban the use of dredges on "Wild and Scenic" waters, such as the North Fork American River Watershed;
  • Ban the use of 8 inch suction nozzles;
  • Take the issue of methyl mercury into consideration prior to adopting new regulations, and;
  • Review the entire body of proposed suction dredge mining regulations and make changes necessary to improve clarity and consistency.

Updated 9/15/14

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