Suction Dredge Report 2nd Half, Biased yet Informative Options

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Oregon Water Resources Department (WRD)


• WRD grants water rights throughout the state, and is responsible for assuring that
the free flowing character of Scenic Waterways is maintained.
• The agency has determined that recreational mining, which it has defined in
regulation as suction dredging with a hose no larger than 4 inches in diameter,
does not create a diversion of water and therefore has no effect on water quantities
and flow.

WRD is responsible for granting water rights to various users; they are the body
responsible for permitting and prohibiting various uses of the state.s water. Under the Scenic Waterways Act, WRD (and the Water Resources Commission, which directs the activities of WRD) has multiple responsibilities. Within Scenic Waterways, WRD has the authority to deny a number of uses of water, including dams, impoundments, certain mining operations, and many other activities. Curbing these activities in certain parts of the state was, in fact, one of the primary reasons for establishing the Scenic Waterways System in the first place.

These types of activities are not eligible to receive water rights
on Scenic Waterways. This is true not only on stretches of rivers designated as scenic, but it can also be applicable to areas upstream as well. WRD must make determinations about the likelihood of an upstream activity to significantly affect water quantity. If an activity will ultimately affect the free-flowing character of a Scenic Waterway downstream, then WRD is not supposed to grant a water right for that activity.

WRD will grant new water rights until there is an effect on water quantity, and
there is a standard that has been developed to weigh the effects of new water rights. This standard is known as the Diack flow, which is the amount of water needed in a river to preserve its free-flowing character. The establishment of Diack flows resulted from a lawsuit brought against the state. The case established that WRD is required to limit water usage if such usage will diminish the free flowing character of scenic rivers. WRD has been routinely criticized for not meeting the goals of the Diack flows, and allowing too much water to be allocated.

WRD is also charged under the Scenic Waterways Act to work collaboratively
with other state agencies on actions that involve Scenic Waterways. WRD is to review and concur on management plans for adjacent lands, on land condemnation actions, and on new additions to the Scenic Waterway System, and the agency is given an opportunity to make comments whenever any of these actions take place.


WRD Considers Recreational Mining to Have Minimal Impact; It Does Not Divert or
Take Water

With respect to recreational placer mining, WRD has little to no involvement in
the day-to-day management of these activities. WRD wrote the regulation that defined the parameters of what is meant by the term recreational, and from this definition, DSL and DEQ have established their permitting guidelines and procedures. The definition of recreational as utilizing mechanized or hydraulic equipment, except a motorized surface dredge with a suction hose intake four inches or less in diameter has effectively meant that no recreational equipment is capable of moving enough water to divert or disrupt the free flowing character of any of the states designated Scenic Waterways. These waterways are not small streams and tributaries, but rivers whose flow cannot be significantly altered by a suction dredge with a four-inch hose.

Moreover, water pulled into a suction dredge for mining purposes stays in the river.

There is no taking of the resource out of the river. Thus WRD has determined that there is no diversion or taking of water by recreational placer miners, no water quantity issue at stake, and thus no affect on the free flowing character of the waterway. As far as the responsibility of WRD is concerned, recreational placer mining has de minimus effect. Therefore the agency has no permitting authority or responsibility for this activity, and has expressed no opposition to recreational placer mining in scenic waterways with respect to its responsibilities.

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National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)


• NMFS and FWS maintain responsibility for protecting fish and wildlife .
especially threatened or engendered species . as applicable under federal law.
• These agencies have very little interaction with the Oregon Scenic Waterways
program, but have at times considered the impacts of suction dredge mining.
• Compliance with regulations will significantly mitigate environmental impacts,
however, there is concern over long-term cumulative effects, which have not been
addressed by scientists to date.

These federal agencies cooperate with Oregon state agencies in managing and
protecting fish and wildlife resources where federal law or money is involved. Usually their involvement stems from issues arising over the Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act, or if federal funding goes to the state to administer rules or a program. These agencies are not involved with the Oregon Scenic Waterways Program, but they do address recreational placer mining in their responsibilities. The views they expressed were similar to others: compliance with appropriate regulations minimizes impact, but there are concerns and uncertainty. Even when following the permitting rules individuals have the capacity to do harm if they are not careful stewards of the land.


FWS did point out two related additional concerns. First, while the scientific
literature often echoes the conventional wisdom about the efficacy of effective
regulations, it also tends to focus on short-term impacts, not long-term effects, and so the science may be overlooking important developments in the rivers. Second, there is some concern about the long-term homogenization of waterways and the loss of complexity in an ecosystem where suction dredging takes place. It will be extremely difficult to study this and attribute exact causes to particular effects.

Cumulative effects result from a mix of activities, but mining is a significant part of the mix as it entails the movement of rocks, logs, and boulders, holes being filled, vegetation being cut. The result may be that the idiosyncrasies of a stream get washed away, while uniformity increases.