Yes you need to refill your holes ,as that is one of the things the inviros go after all the time .They will and do anything to come after us .And after you have been at this for a long time your learn to see the difference .So that is why we are asked to refill holes .

I suppose refilling with large rocks to show clearly a difference in ground consistency might be a good option. I get what you mean about learning to see the difference, I am just learning. I so want to bitch and moan about it, but I guess there is no point...

I am going to paint "Grass Killer" in mean looking Bold letters on my shovel and put chevrons on it after every trip to commemorate its awesome destructive power!

I classify all my material so I make a pile of the rocks form the classifier and shovel that back in when I am done for the day.

HI Michael, The filling in of holes has a couple of different aspects to it. I would agree that using the large rock to fill in and covering with other sand and gravels will tell another miner that it has been already dug, I have used that myself both for the fill-in and so that when and sometime if I come back I can remove a little sand and a couple rock at the head of the hole or trench and I am back from where I left off. The other issues are that most land is classified as multiple-use public land. This means that the surface is not only used for mining but for other uses. The minerals are the only thing that miners have exclusive rights to on most claims. Cattle or range land is one that open holes even though small like a detector hole can cause problem for four legged animals. A broken leg for a rancher is a very costly event. If there are steep sides there are a number of other critters that can get entrained and not be able to get out which is a concern as well. Hikers and picture takers may be taken back also by the appearance of scattered holes which only gives cause to alienate others from our use of the mineral resources. Yes we have the law behind us but laws can be altered or changed where many think it can not happen. I can remember when it was thought impossible that dredging would ever be curtailed in California as a case in point. This is not to imply that the dredgers did anything wrong because most dredgers supported the regulations that had been in effect for years and these regulations protected times when fish were laying eggs and protected banks so in high water times the river would not alter course and hurt someone down stream. This is the point now a days regulations sometimes reflect what has been fabricated by an extreme group or groups. They use or create any little thing to build their case. So GPAA / LDMA supports the filling of holes or if necessary re-contouring the mined area to look like the surrounding areas and to protect other users. 

Hope this helps with the understanding of why filling holes is a good idea.      

Hmm I am going to have to recheck the Washington state regs for this as I seem to remember that we are supposed to place all our tailings in one pile while placer mining. I got the feeling that it was for inspection by fish and game if they should come by to see if we are going accordingly... I think the reason for this is to make sure we are NOT working in the "wet zone" for one and also they do not want to see any vegetation, roots, etc in the tailings...

OK, just finished going over the HPA or rules for Washington state for prospecting in stream placer mining and I stand corrected albeit I was partially correct. So here is the rules for us here in Washington:
5e: "You must fill all excavation sites and level all tailing piles prior to abandoning an excavation site", you have 36 hours before abandonment is considered...
6c: "You may NOT level or disturb tailing piles that remain in the wetted perimeter after processing aggregate." And that was what stuck in my mind, and they do want you to place all your tailings in one pile per excavation site until your done and then fill your holes before abandoning the site... Hope that's clear as mud!

Hi Don

Good intell Don, In many areas where there is considerable chance of mine tailing being syringed from rain and going into the waters of the state (river) they want all tailings below surface soils to be put in the hole first and covered with the original surface material (top soil). If the tailings below is of a different ph value and is leached by syringing rains it can change the surface ph of the downstream areas. It is also seen as a good way of having native seeds maintained in the growing medium for reclaiming the area. This may not be true in all jurisdictions and if you know about a preference in your jurisdiction it is always good to follow it. FYI: the concern of ph changes are mainly prevalent in large hard rock mining with large amounts of tailings but as always it washes down to us.