the testing and research has been done. The eco-lobby is well aware of the results. They choose rather to disbelieve the results until it suites their needs.  For example they want to dredge the Bear River gust outside of Colfax, CA.  They claim it is not in search of gold but rather to remove the mercury in the river and remove the silt accumulation.  This would of course be paid for by the rest of us out of general tax funds.  Last time i checked the miners will not only willing to do this for free, but they were paying the state a fee to do it before the ban went into affect.

Terry,

I was very disappointed reading your comments on our forum. I have been in direct contact with Jerry Hobbs and Walt Wagner for years and they assure us that, not only is GPAA/LDMA the only reason they are still around, but we continue to be their largest contributor. GPAA is a public promoter of prospecting, bringing over 10,000 new prospectors of  all ages into prospecting and mining each year. LDMA is a national premium mining membership offering great collective knowledge and friendship to thousands of members. We have a responsibility to protect mining, but to do so you need someone promoting it.

Not many people are going to be effective setting up a booth at a local event screaming threats of doom to encourage people to participate. GPAA is not ignoring the fight for our rights, we are funding it through the contributions of new members who have learned to appreciate prospecting. Chapters are an important part of spreading the love of prospecting locally all over the country. Not only do they get people involved, they fight for rights on the local level and provide valuable education. It is disappointing to see an LDMA member publicly criticize the efforts of a local chapter.

I am confident that if Jerry or Walt were to see your post, they would also recommend a different perspective in the support of our cause.

Regards,

Brandon Johnson

Hello everyone,

I thought I might throw in my two cents.

First off one must remember a house divided cannot stand.

Second we all must unite and fight together. The quote I saw once said " The only way for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing".

For the last thought it is apparent to me the reason these big groups are pushing to ban dredging and other related activities

 is because they know small scale mining activities clean up all the heavy metals. If they can eliminate, twist the truth or what ever to get the big gov't cleanup contracts for mercury etc. as stated in an earlier post what do they collect in the process, yes that's right GOLD right along with the bad.

Nice scam get paid to clean up and get the gold, and in public's eye be the hero.

 Just a thought.

The full story on the California dredging ban court hearing May 1 is now online: http://www.goldprospector...-Dredging-Ban-Ruling

 Boy! in my own backyard

Here's a link to check out. I sure hope they made sure the equipment doesn't leak oil, diesel or hydraulic fluid, oh and I'm sure they have all the permits from EPA and Fish and game.

Seems they could get spawning pools done by allowing dredging and getting it all done for FREE!

Another waste of money by Government.

http://www.orovillemr.com...ject-begins-oroville

Rick      

Public Lands for the People and other mining groups are meeting with Judge Gilbert Ochoa as we speak. The court-ordered Mandatory Settle Conference is now underway. Hopefully, the end of the five-year long statewide ban on suction-dredge mining is near! The closed-court session is the latest development in the ongoing battle between gold miners and radical environmental groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, since the state imposed a “two-year moratorium.” Miners argue the moratorium has become a prohibition!

Here is the background on the case: 

http://www.goldprospector...-Dredging-Ban-Ruling

http://www.goldprospector...ck-in-the-wall 

http://www.goldprospector...t-hand-account 

Hello Brandon;

Well it has been almost a year since your answer to me. Lets summarize, in your zest to make this club a face book based for profit club you have completely stopped supporting PLP. If you have paid attention at the gold shows you will not see many 20-30 something's in attendance. You do not see people walking around with there messaging equipment, you see people that probably do not even have computers. I know that you cancelled the outing at Duisenburg last year because you did not like the "face book" style of signing up due to the fact that you did not like the amount signing up.

At that camp there are a lot of people living off the grid, that do not have even a phone. At some point they had the ability to join LDMA but because they can not do a "face book" sign up you decided to cancel the outing. That is totally out of line and should never have been allowed to happen. It NEVER would have happened in the past.

My last question to you is by taking the money and running, what are you going to sell in the future when nobody can even go into the public lands to do ANYTHING. You have replaced most of the people that knew what they were doing with 30 something's that do not know which end of a gold pan goes up. As a point we have been to the last 3 chapter summits and at every one there is some new person that can not spell dredging, let alone ever been mining. In fact the first time you showed up a member in the summit raised their hand and asked who you were and why were you at the summit. In ending your grandfather, dad and uncle had it right you do not have a clue. I hope GPAA and LDMA can survive you as we were hoping to pass our LDMA membership to family members in the future.

Thank you, Terry Moore 

Hello Terry;

I would like to start out by expressing regret that you are dissatisfied with the efforts our organization is making to support the prospecting industry. GPAA, as the largest prospecting organization in the world, continues to act as a strong collective of 50,000+ active members, 130 + local chapters, and partner to hundreds of local prospecting related businesses who welcome all experience levels to the prospecting industry. We maintain the largest circulated publications in our industry which keep members up to date on current events all over the country, and provide direct and indirect support throughout the year to a wide variety of groups who depend on us for support.

This year alone we plan to welcome approximately 700+ GPAA annual and Lifetime families to experience our LDMA membership atmosphere during our scheduled outings. Our focus will be on education, entertainment, and fostering new relationships within the LDMA.

It appears you may have attended the 2015 Gold Show at Pomona. It was a very successful event for all who were involved including the chapters, the vendors, the attendees, as well as the PLP. I spoke with several board members who expressed their appreciation for the donation of a booth, and their desire to continue growing our relationship in support of prospecting and mining. Tens of thousands of dollars were raised to support local prospecting clubs, including just under $9,000 brought in for the major prize raffle, which was split equally among the participating chapters. That could not have been possible without the unified support of large equipment manufacturers like Minelab, Keene and Gold Cube (to name just a few) who donated their equipment, and the efforts of volunteers from each chapter who made operation of the event possible. 

I know of at least 1 chapter who plans to donate all the money they raised at the raffle to PLP. Of course GPAA does not dictate what each local non-profit chapter can do with the funds they generate. I consider this to be a great victory in our efforts to support each of these local clubs, groups who are so important to the growth of our support base.

In any event, I have forwarded your concern to 3 board members of PLP. I hope they can help to clarify the significant support GPAA members provide to their efforts. It really is the strength of our membership that makes everything we do possible. I hope you will reconsider your position.

Sincerely,

Brandon Johnson