![]() ![]() “If I wanna kill fish, I’m going to use a fishing pole,” says Hamilton. Disturbing and dispersing even small amounts of buried mercury can trigger unsafe levels of bioaccumulation in a watershed's food chain.ĭredgers refute those concerns, contending that their activity actually aids stream health by removing toxic materials and by loosening gravel that improves fish habitat for spawning, particularly during times of drought and low water levels. Geological Survey and other entities that show suction dredging to mobilize mercury in water bodies. “It’s kind of like having a dozen teenagers mowing your lawn.” English says that the practice harms sensitive species like salmon and lamprey, and cites studies from the U.S. “Some of these rivers can be pretty busy (with dredgers) in the summertime,” says Forrest English, the program director for Rogue Riverkeeper, an organization aimed at protecting southern Oregon’s Rogue River watershed. Suction dredging has fueled a fierce debate in recent years, with anglers and environmentalists blaming the practice for hampering water quality by kicking up sediment and mercury from the river bottom, threatening fish species and impacting downstream water users. “That’s how they get through the winter.” “For a lot of people, it’s a way of life,” says Jim Hamilton of the American Mining Rights Association (AMRA), a California-based organization that advocates for suction dredging throughout the West. ![]() ![]() Some even rely on the payout as a key source of income. While suction dredging is a recreational activity carried out mostly by seasonal hobbyists, its devotees can score a handsome reward for their efforts-especially with gold fetching $1,200 per ounce. Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate NowĪlthough the sun has long set on the heyday of the gold rush, you might not know it from the Pacific Northwest’s streams and rivers, where a new epidemic of gold fever has struck. Instead of miners with pans and shovels, divers with gas-powered suction dredges sweep the river bottoms and vacuum sediment through a sluice box-damaging watersheds and upsetting environmentalists in the process. ![]()
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