Know Thyne Enemy

[klunker]

 I got a call at my business the other day. A miner was desperate to get some reclamation work done. I thought I had this guy pegged as another miner that made a mess on public land and now he is being told he has to clean it up. I was wrong. I ask his where the work was  and what needed to be done. When he told me I told him this could cost several thousand dollars. He said he well understood the cost involved but the U.S.F.S. was going to keep his bond in addition to charging him for them to do the work which was several times more expensive than what I told him my work might cost. The work was to construct erosion control in his access road, remove a section of the road, and block off the road from future access. This didn't sound right and I told him I needed to see his Plan of Operation. He drove 100+ miles to bring me a copy of his plan. It was for occupancy for more than 14 days and to construct and maintain an out house- nothing more. The bond amount was extraordinarily excessive. I called the U.S.F.S. minerals officer to try to get a better understanding of the situation. She said that she considered the road as part of the reclamation. I replied "maybe it was but it wasn't part of the plan". She didn't care and if he didn't do as told he would be charged for the costs of the U.S.F.S doing the work. Somehow I managed to hold my smart@$$ mouth and my temper and politely said I believed the historic public road was protected by statute and she was acting outside of their own minerals administration guidelines, that if I could be shown a regulation, forest rule or any thing the claim owner signed or initialed that obligated him to eliminate his own claim access or something that gave her the authority to make these demands, I would immediately load up equipment and do the work otherwise I would need a better explanation from District Forest Ranger and Forest Supervisor.

 The claim owner received a call soon thereafter and was told he did not have to do the road work.

The claim owner nearly spent thousands of dollars needlessly. So if any of you own a claim, please take the time to familiarize yourselves with regulations that apply to you AND regulations that apply to the regulators. Claim owners have more rights regarding their claims than what most realize.

Please-no anti government rants if you reply. Thanks.

Klunker 

 

[beatup]

Good Job helping the guy out of a mess Klunker

[Sourdough Scott]

The real question is? Is there any gold on his claim? 

[Rege-PA]

I don`t own a claim and don`t understand how these situations reach  the level that they do. Is it ignorance on the part of the miner or does the fault lie with inept forest service people out stepping their jurisdiction. Is there any recourse or review within the forest service itself to prevent these problems before money is needlessly spent? Seem both parties should be working together, not against each other.

[1515Art]

Klunker, nice, I love stories like this with a happy ending. Every time I'm out exploring and run across a new area with trees piled across yet another road or trail closed...well, it's just not a healthy thing for my already mild hypertension. Thank you

[strick]

If I run into a problem....any problem...I'm calling you first...just saying

strick

[Shasta gold hunter]

Nice going! Appreciate you sharing.

[mn90403]

Klunker,

Thank you.

Your knowledge of regulations, requirements, bureaucracy and perhaps the supervisor has won the miner the day. 

It seems that the desire of the employee to enforce their view would not be supported at the supervisor level so that supervisor took the proper action and told the miner a different way to be in compliance.

Knowledge Trumps regulator's desire.

Mitchel

[phoenix]

Interesting story Klunker. Well done mate 

[Clay Diggins]

We see a lot of these situations. It seems the root cause is the ignorance of both the miner and the surface management agency. Put two entities together that don't know what they are doing and are at cross purposes in their agendas and extreme silliness can result. Not so silly once the miner gets the bill but the view from the outside can be incomprehension at how messed up these situations can become.

Overreach by surface management agencies has become extreme in many areas. Sometimes these become as disconnected as a Forest Supervisor attempting to ban all mining in "their" forest (can't be done legally). There seems no limit to the arrogance or ignorance of some of these agency actions. But the agencies are not alone in creating these situations. We've seen miners submit plans of operation for stream sluicing by one man with a shovel and in one case a large prospecting club applying for, and receiving , a single blanket plan of operations on all their wet claims across an entire forest. It takes two to tango no matter how clumsy the dancers.

I encourage miners to read and understand the laws and follow them, even to the extent of insisting that the surface management agencies comply as well. The law applies to all, it's not really a situation of "just do what the regulator says". Knowing the laws and your rights and responsibilities is just as important of a mining skill as panning or modifying your recovery equipment for best results.

In this case the miner was rightly concerned because of the monetary penalty. We often see miners bullied off their claims when there is no penalty but the effort to say no!

If you are a claim owner or operator I encourage you to push back when you know you are in the right. Be polite, respectful, business like and calm.  Cooperate but educate at the same time. Avoid the phone and email and insist on a paper trail. Ask for explanations at every stage of your dealings and if you get a firm no ask whether the "decision is final". If you don't know what a "final decision" is you need to get more educated before you engage with a surface management agency.

This may sound daunting but keep in mind that the odds of you winning a challenge to a surface management agency on a mining decision are right around 80%. Yep the agencies are really that bad at interpreting their duties in managing the surface effects of mining on the public lands. By knowing your rights and responsibilities and helping these agencies to understand their job in relation to mining you are not only keeping your mining plans right but you are paving the way for every responsible miner that deals with these agencies.

Sometimes the enemy are us.