Last Post 12 Aug 2016 06:30 PM by  ROBERT HOBDY
Pisgah National forest
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Thomas Hall
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15 Mar 2015 03:10 PM

    Has anybody went panning for gold in Pisgah forest? I'm just curious to see if anybody has had any luck there. I know you can only use a pan but I think it would be fun.

    Leo Lorenz
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    28 Sep 2015 10:09 AM

    Scott, I was looking at the Forest Service website and was amazed at how contradictory they say:

    "Materials must be removed using small hand tools without mechanical means or motorized equipment. Removing mineral materials with a pick, shovel, sluice box or similar large tools can cause significant impacts to resources is considered mechanical so therefore not allowed."

    Ok well a shovel is a mechanical piece of equipment. So what is a "small hand tool" ?? A small shovel....is how small..????...a small pick or small sluice box? I dont know that a sluice box is mechanical since there are no moving parts and it is stationary and does not do damage, unless of course someone got wacked in the head with it. Where is "small hand tool" defined within the Forest Service definitions? I guess we would have to start with that. If a sluice box is allowed in 1 National Forest in the West why not another National Forest in the East.? 

    I think these rules were written just to purposely confuse the facts or they were actually written by confused people who think they know what is good for us. 

    Tim Leibel
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    28 Sep 2015 02:40 PM
    Here is the URL to their "rules" for gold panning and Rock hounding in the forest: http://www.fs.usda.gov/de...?cid=stelprdb5420144 A shovel is not mechanical as it is run by muscle power. but strangely enough a pry bar is considered mechanical due to the extra leverage it offers.
    Tim Leibel
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    28 Sep 2015 02:42 PM
    MY oops, shovels are mechanical !! Gee I wonder what science teacher they had.
    Leo Lorenz
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    28 Sep 2015 05:35 PM
    Exactly....wonder what the real interpretation is.
    Paul Straub
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    28 Sep 2015 06:15 PM
    I talked with a forest ranger in No. GA, his interpretation was; Garden trowels or anything smaller than a #2 shovel, such as folding camp shovels, or those small D-handled shovels like the ones for kids, about 18-24" long with a 6" wide blade.

    Paul
    Tim Leibel
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    28 Sep 2015 08:36 PM
    I didn't even know about this forest. Need to check it out next time I do a walk about.
    Paul Straub
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    28 Sep 2015 08:47 PM
    Hey Tim, It's in NC just north of I-40 from NE of Asheville to north of Marion over to north of Lenoir, NC.

    Paul
    Leo Lorenz
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    29 Sep 2015 10:25 AM
    Thanks Paul, ....so these guys dont have actual hard rules to follow it is left up to their individual interpretation...could be a scary thought ...
    Paul Straub
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    29 Sep 2015 10:44 AM
    In 3 of the Nat Forests I've checked with here in the SE, they all said pretty much the same thing. But I have read about some N.F.s that allow "Hand and Pan" only.

    Saw some pics of people's pans all cracked and broken from one of the New England states (either Vermont or NH) and from areas of Brit Columbia, CN, where they allow hand and pan only. Some of those guy's say they go through 6-8 pans a year having to use them to dig out material.

    Paul
    Leo Lorenz
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    29 Sep 2015 11:01 AM

    Thats funny stuff... I am more MD....but Hand and Pan seems like a brutal proposition. Dig barehanded? well ok gloves on maybe but still .......

     

     

    Paul Straub
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    29 Sep 2015 11:09 AM
    That's how they bust up their pans, using them as scoops to scrape up material! That's some serious old time prospecting there.

    Paul
    Tim Leibel
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    29 Sep 2015 12:11 PM
    I own a metal pan, scoop with it into my plastic pan. Or use a rock? Or is that against the rules?
    Jesse Loucks
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    29 Oct 2015 07:12 AM
    lol,we do have it rough in the east..
    ROBERT HOBDY
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    12 Aug 2016 06:30 PM

    Actually there is gold in Pisgah NF, you just have to find it.  Lots of NF land is adjacent to private land or leased land in NF.  Talk with the locals and they may permit you on their land next to NF to pan streams.  Just leave it in better shape than you found it and it works!  There is also alot of gems to be found in the streams too!  If you are sluicing, be on lookout for garnets trapped with the gold, as well as occasional emeralds, aqua-marines, rubies and sapphires.  Look up gold mining history of that area and you will find numerous gold mines...try panning downstream from them, especially in the road right of way under bridges if you are exploring and dont have time to ask permission.  Once a good area found, ask the owner for permission.  LOL

     

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