Archive for the 'Announcements' Category

Presidents Message May 2012
We lost another one of our founding members this month. We had a couple who helped us learn how to file our documents for new claims. This couple would go with us to explore the areas to see if we should file and if there was still gold in those hills. I remember when Gary Hopkins drove his older Cadillac out on the Friendly Fox dirt and sandy roads.
Nancy was the brains in the family. She knew how to file the claims papers. When she first used to file for claims, the necessary information was on Micro Fiche film. When the BLM LR 2000 came out on the internet, she quickly learned it and taught Harriett how to use it and also how to file all papers needed for claim acquisition.
We became good friends with the couple and hung together like brothers and sisters. We began to travel together, camp together and just hang out together. We all got together and took a long vacation up to central and northern California. Nancy and Harriett would do all those girl things while Gary and I would go out and do a lot of prospecting together. We hiked and planted center posts and corner posts on various claims. Gary loved the Italian Bar and Duisenberg areas for prospecting and he did a lot of prospecting in his lifetime.
They moved up to Stockton, CA, Nancy had some medical problems, but that didn’t deter them from continuing their love for the outdoors. They still traveled and prospected together. Well, earlier this month, odds caught up with Gary. According to a Bakersfield newspaper article, Gary was digging in a four foot hole, in the Duisenberg, area, Puppy Feet claim and the surrounding dirt fell on him. It took a local fire department to get him out. He was sent alive to a local hospital. I read the article but at that time I didn’t know if this was the Gary I knew. We didn’t have any new phone numbers for them.
Tuesday morning, April 25, Nancy called. They had to let Gary go. While at the hospital, the doctors had to take one leg and then the other. He had internal and facial injuries. I did talk to Nancy and their son for a long time. They are grateful that he passed doing the one thing he loved doing. Nancy will go and live with their son. They are planning a memorial at Italian Bar and maybe spreading some ashes there.
So, why should I write about something that is sad? This is a fun organization that loves to do fun things. The reason is because this can happen to any of us who enjoys this type of event. Gary had years of experience. It can happen to my friends and those others I consider my brothers and sisters. Be very careful out there. Think ahead. Watch those holes and trails. If it doesn’t fall on you, or you fall off of it or into it, it may bite you.
God bless Gary, Nancy and family. Happy trails. Watch your step my friends and may all your finds and treasures be great.
Sourdough Chet

PLP AND WMA FILE LAWSUIT IN SAN BERNARDINO SUPERIOR COURT AGAINST CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF FISH AND GAME

With the support of a Non-Profit Organization, Western Mining Alliance, and the PLP are teaming up to file yet another lawsuit in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
The lawsuit filed April 12, 2012 against the California Department of Fish & Game.
The suit is asking that an Injunction be granted against DF&G’s ”newly adopted suction dredge regulations” and their Final Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (FSEIR).
WMA has taken up the challenge of partnering with PLP, combining their membership fees and donations, to bring more forces to bear against the DF&G’s newly adopted suction dredging regulations and their FSEIR.
The newly adopted suction dredge regulations and FSEIR add extreme restrictions on miners who are protected by the Federal Government’s 1872 Mining Laws as well as various other Federal laws.
As stated in the article, “In the fifty years of suction dredging, there hasn’t been one reported case of harm to fish.”
For complete statement and information, please refer to www.freeprnow.com

The Palomar Gem and Mineral Club is holding a Spring Show this weekend, Mar 24 and 25. Free admission and the Treasure Seekers will have a display there. The Escondido-based club holds its annual spring show with displays and sales of gems, minerals, fossils and jewelry along with children’s activities and a raffle; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. And 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat, March 25. Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum, 2040 N. Santa Fe Drive, Vista.

I found this information in the California Mining Journal as a free article. It is written by Scott Harn and called Revised Dredge Regulations Published for California – Pure Garbage. I am passing the Key Points, as he calls them, to you.

Key Points
• Limit of 1,500 permits issued per year.

• Maintain and submit an annual report card to include the location of each dredging site, dates and times of operation for each day, nozzle size, horsepower.

• Present license and report card when demanded by a DFG representative at any time.

• Permit suspension or revocation for failure to carry or present permit or report card upon demand for inspection.

• No suction dredge having an intake nozzle with an inside diameter larger than four inches may be used without an on-site inspection and written permission.

• Solid, one-piece, restrictor ring required and no quick release mechanism is allowed for the ring.

• The inside diameter of the intake hose may not be more than two inches larger than the permitted intake nozzle size.

• Intake pumps are required to be covered with a mesh screen with openings of 3/32” or less.

• A containment system must be added under motor and fuel tanks capable of handling the full contents of the fuel tank and lubricants.

• Motorized winching is only allowed after an on-site inspection.

• Winched materials must be left within the current water level.

• No operating within three feet of the lateral edge of the current water level, including the edge of instream gravel bars.

• No moving, cutting or destabilizing woody debris such as root wads, stumps or logs.

• Piling material to concentrate water flow can only be done after an on-site inspection and approval.

• No fuel, lubricants or chemicals may be stored within 100 feet of the current water level. If this is not feasible, a containment system must be in place beneath the containers and be capable of handling the full contents.

• Stream material may only be moved within the current water level.

• No displacing any material embedded on banks.

• No disturbing any mussel bed where at least 10 mussels are found within a square yard, and dredges and tailings must be at least 30 yards upstream or 10 yards laterally or downstream.

• Tailing piles shall be leveled before moving to another site or finishing for the season.

• Dredges must be cleaned of mud, oil, grease, debris, and plant and animal material before use.

• Dredges must be pressure washed with > 120-degree water or left to dry for two weeks before use in another location.

• No person shall operate a dredge within 500 feet of another dredge.

• Dredging is restricted to 10am to 4pm.

Went to the GPAA Rendezvous this year. Went to the first one in Stanton and this is the number 7 in Congress, AZ. Had a really great time with friends Jerry Goldstein and Robert Cook. Learned a lot and met some more great GPAA friends. We got to prospect on Elly’s claims and would like to stay for a couple of weeks. She is such a great lady and the Treasure Seekers presented her with a set of our dowsing rods. She really likes them and sait that they work so smooth. The three of us, and maybe more, will try to be there next year.

Went to the GPAA Rendezvous this year. Went to the first one in Stanton and this is the number 7 in Congress, AZ. Had a really great time with friends Jerry Goldstein and Robert Cook. Learned a lot and met some more great GPAA friends. We got to prospect on Elly’s claims and would like to stay for a couple of weeks. She is such a great lady and the Treasure Seekers presented her with a set of our dowsing rods. She really likes them and sait that they work so smooth. The three of us, and maybe more, will try to be there next year.

This action alert has been posted by the PLP representatives Jerry Hobbs and Gary Golberg. There is a form to be filled out ant sent in on how you, the dredgers have been harmed by the dredging moratorium. Please go to the PLP website and fill out the form.
Chet Nowicki, President, Treasure Seekers of San Diego County.
Action Alert: PLP asks dredgers for information.
Public Lands for the People is calling on miners to help fight the battle to defeat the suction dredge mining ban in California.
“In order to compare the 1994 regulations with the new regulations on suction dredging, I need to know who has been harmed by the new regulations as far as dredging season changes, nozzle sizes, etcetera,” said PLP President Jerry Hobbs.
“For example, [if] you have a mining claim and you used to be able to dredge for three or four months or all year round, and now you can only dredge for 30 days or maybe not at all or if you own a mining claim on a river or stream that is closed all year round now, but wasn’t closed under the old regulations, we need to know,” he said.
Hobbs is also asking miners to email others in the prospecting and mining community to get the word out quickly.
“Please send this action alert out to your email list and tell your friends to contact me about it. This information we need as soon as possible and plenty of of it,” he said. “This is important.”
Hobbs pointed out that time is of the essence, so email is the best way to get information to him while the 15-day comment period is still open.

BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office Announces Public Workshops on Draft Management Plan

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has scheduled two public meetings on the Draft South Coast Resource Management Plan (RMP) which was released for public review and comment on September 23, 2011.

The BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office will hold two public meetings:

November 29th at the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve, 14715 State Hwy 94 (Campo Road), Jamul, 91935

November 30th at the Mary Phillips Senior Center, 41845 6th Street, Temecula, 92590. (Click Here for a Map)

Meetings will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The meetings will be conducted in “open house” format with a presentation on the alternatives presented in the Draft RMP and the opportunity for the public to view maps and other sections of the Draft RMP. Copies of the Draft RMP will be available along with the opportunity to ask managers and planning specialists questions about the alternatives. All comments must be in writing and submitted prior to the close of the 90 day comment period on December 21, 2011.

The Draft South Coast Resource Management Plan (RMP) Revision and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will provide guidance for the management of approximately 300,000 acres of BLM administered public lands in portions of five highly urbanized Southern California counties: San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, and Los Angeles. The existing South Coast RMP was completed and signed in 1994. Since that time there have been significant changes in the patterns of urban growth, increased demands on the resources on public lands, changing policies and emphasis on the management of public lands and local land use planning, and new data that has led to the listing of additional threatened or endangered species.

The public is invited to submit comments on the Draft RMP/EIS prior to December 21, 2011, by email to: capsscrmp@ca.blm.gov or by mail to: BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262.

“We look forward to the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the public on how to manage our public lands for years to come,” BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Manager John Kalish said. “When completed, the RMP will provide broad guidance for management of this planning area for the next 20 years.”

For more information about the plan and the proposed revisions, please visit http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/palmsprings/SCRMP_Revision.html

The September Mid-Week Metal Detecting Outing will at Oceanside Harbor.

When: Tuesday September 13 @ 8:00 am

Where: Oceanside Harbor – South End near Jetty

Note:  Keep all that you find.

The September Metal Detecting Outing will at La Jolla Shores.

When: Sunday September 11 @ 7:00 am

Where: La Jolla Shores

Note:  Gloating & Whining over finds @ 10:00 am