NFARA Fall 2011 Update
Maintaining North Fork Trails
Great Sierra River Clean-up
In conjunction with the Sierra
Nevada Conservancy's Great Sierra River Cleanup, NFARA plans an clean-up trip
down the Stevens Trail on September 17. Last year, a group of 10 volunteers hiked the Stevens Trail
to clean up one of the campsites near the river that was left in total trash. We
packed out over 300 pounds of trash from just one site, including 20 pounds of
small batteries. This year's outing will be similar as we will clean-up another
of the trash sites near the river.
For more information contact Jim Ricker
at 530-389-8344 or jvricker@prince-ricker.net.
Other Trail Outings in 2011
NFARA has conducted two trail trips so far in
2011. In conjunction with Earth Day on April 16, seven hardy volunteers went
down the Euchre Bar Trail where many downed trees were cleared from the trail.
Euchre Bar was a wonderful lunch spot. While relaxing , the group was rewarded
when an otter was spotted in the river. Before leaving Euchre Bar, another
campsite was cleaned up. In all, about 100 lbs. of garbage was hauled out of
the canyon.
On June 11, for National Trails Day, 15 volunteers
did some trail maintenance on the BLM trails in the southern part of the Gold
Run Diggings. Due to rain, this trip was rescheduled from June 4. Work consisted
predominately of clearing Manzanita using chain saws, hand saws, and loppers.
We cleared the trail from the end of Garrett Road to the junction with
Pickering Bar Trail and then down to the old cabin in the Indiana Hill Pit.
After a short lunch, we continued on the ditch trail to Canyon Creek. It was a
beautiful day and, with all of the volunteers, over a mile of trail was
cleared.
One of
the participants, a young woman named Libby Jelinek, accompanied her father on
the outing. Libby contributes to a blog and wrote a wonderful article about the
outing. The article, titledLessons Learned from NFARA, was originally posted on July 14 on the blog youthnoise.com, under
the Play City project. Here's more information. According to the
site, Play City is "the active community dedicated to using sports and
play for social change." What a great idea! It is exciting and very encouraging
to see such a site and see how today's young adults address current issues.
Suction Dredge Mining Update - Governor Brown signs
Bill to Extend Moratorium
In July, Governor Brown signed AB
120 which extends the moratorium on
suction dredge mining for an additional five years or until the environmental
report is complete and the new California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG)
regulations are adopted. In addition,
the legislation sets out a requirement that all adverse impacts be fully
mitigated and that CDFG establish a new fee structure set at a level that fully
pays for all of the administration enforcement, monitoring, testing, etc. of
the program.
As reported in the Summer issue of Community,
CDFG released proposed regulations on suction dredge mining for public comment
last Spring. Previous state regulations failed to recognize the impacts of
suction dredging on California rivers and a lawsuit filed by Indian Tribes and
other organizations forced the agency to develop new regulations. In the
meantime, the California Legislature approved a moratorium on suction dredging
that has been in effect since 2009. The proposed regulations were inadequate in
protecting aquatic resources and opened previously closed areas, like the Wild
and Scenic North Fork American River, to suction dredge mining.
Many conservation organizations and individuals
submitted comments on the proposed regulations. Placer County Board of
Supervisors weighed in as well. In May, the Supervisors authorized the BOS
Chairman to write CDFG and oppose the
proposed regulations. The letter urged CDFG to revise the regulations and 1)
ban the use of dredges on "Wild and Scenic" waters, such as the North
Fork American River, 2) ban the use of 8 inch suction nozzles, 3) take the
issue of methyl mercury into consideration prior to adopting new regulations,
and 4) review the entire body of proposed suction dredge mining regulations and
make changes necessary to improve clarity and consistency.
NFARA raised the same issues as
Placer County in its comments to CDFG, but added that the proposed fee
structure was inadequate for the administration, monitoring, and enforcement
of the regulations. NFARA supports the five year moratorium extension in AB
120. The legislation gives CDFG the
necessary direction and time to do the regulations properly.
Updated 9/15/14
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