I'm no expert, however other than discharging into the river/creek I don't believe there is any restrictions.
The Forest Circus is probably closed for the winter season, they close the one near me for the season.


Bill

Main office in Nevada City should be open every week day except holidays.  If that is one of the places you are calling and not getting an answer, then call the Regional office.

 

Thanks for the tips, I finally got a hold of the right people. The trip went great, my new Martin Prospecting 2inch highbanker combo worked like a dream and found a bunch of lil baby nuggets some with quartz still attached. I was surprised that my machine caught a lot of fines too. Todd from Martin Prospecting is a genius. he placed a 5x5 piece of gold stop matting directly under the grizzly bars/classifier but above the sluice. So basically its inside the hopper adding a second recovery stage. Amazing!!

"Talked to the right people"

Were there any restrictions from them ?


Bill

The first Officer had me on hold forever, then finally they told me that I would have to file for a water permit if I was gonna be there longer than 48 hours. He still couldn't give me a sure answer, he didn't even know of the many gold claims in the area or if he even had jurisdiction.

That is a big problem, the forest circus wants people to jump through hoops, but they don't know which hoops to make you jump through.
Each time you talk to a different person, you get a different answer.
Our tax dollars hard at work

"Didn't know there were gold claims in the area" give me a break, How long you worked around here ?

As long as your no discharging your tails back into the river, and aren't bringing in truckloads of heavy equipment, sucking up huge amounts of water
Go have fun, they wont bother ya


Bill

 

Thanks Bill, I will continue to follow our guidelines and enjoy mother nature. I know my Rights and I will exercise them.

Some USFS people, even the minerals person might not know exactly "where or how many, or if they are current, claims" in their area, as BLM handles all the paperwork for claims.  The only reason the FS guy in our Ranger District knows the area I hit most, is because he is more or less on permanent loan from BLM and still works with them, and he knows the area from that time. 

Most times, they will know some historical mining took place, but not really a clue as to current going ons, unless a NOI/POO exists for a certain operation.

 

Sounds like you had a nice trip, post up some pics of your "goodies"

So we can highbank with no water permit as long as it's less than 48 hours here in California?

The 48 hour thing is complete ignorance on the part of whatever Forest Service employee made that up and probably means that, he personally, would not enforce anything for 48 hours.

SB637 is the new law in question here, it is in effect as of Jan. 1st, and has yet to have any implementation measures disseminated to any agency. Which is why the Waterboard, Army Corps, Fish and Game, BLM, and Forest Service employees have no clue on how to answer these types of questions. Interesting to note,,,,, SB637 title is "Suction Dredge Mining: Permits" yet the definition of a suction dredge contained in it encompasses any equipment that is "mechanized" which will no doubt be defined as anything with any moving parts.

So, can you highbank in California, yes,,,,, if you get the unavailable permit,,,, or if you operate more than 100 yards form "waters of the U.S." (that is the jurisdiction distance prescribed in SB637)

Sorry to be such a downer but that is what California has sunk down to. Stay tuned to AMRA, we are working diligently to get the "unavailable permit" and make the permitting path as easy as possible for all you guys.

Jere,

California has never required a "permit" to highbank
Only "permit" required was to allow a person to dredge, which as you stated is no longer available
During this "moratorium" on dredging, it is stated that if your "dredge" is within a 100 yards of a stream or river, your gear would be confiscated and you would be cited
Highbanking has never been in question

Be prepared to hear all kinds of "laws", "stipulations", "rules" and "half truths" that BLM, forest circus, even Fish and Game people will want you to adhere to,
weather true or not
It's "their" empire and you are treading within their empire so you must submit

Most importantly, know the laws, know your rights and dont let them push you around
Ask politely to see it written in a rule book, chapter and verse, get the persons name and badge number, follow up with their direct supervisor if you care to
"Usually" they will back down because they figure you know your rights and the law, knowing they are blowing smoke

The only time we were made to cease our highbanking activities was out at Yankee Jim bridge in the Auburn State Rec area, the kayakers complained about the noise the pump motor made
The ranger was nice about it and really didn't want to make us stop, but peer pressure was to great
We didn't have to stop but to keep the peace we relocated and was better off for it


Bill

thanks for all this input on highbankers for northern calif i just got one just looking for a good spot to try it out and the laws and rules ,buy the way im new here to group ,and yes a green horn,,thanks dennis

Welcome
We all started some where

The biggest thing with highbanking, DO NOT discharge dirty water straight back into the stream/river
Those that wear the badges don't like that at all.


Bill

Best to use motorized sluicing outside of stream if that is what you are doing. This puts everything in context, unless you are expecting to dig into the wetted bank of the river or stream. Be aware this instance would be much harder to perfect a permit on in my opinion. Here is an exert from Fish and Game: