"I couldn't have been more surprised..."

Anglers were thrilled with a bill introduced this week by Rep. Gale Tarleton in Washington state that aims to reign in suction dredging. 

If you're not familiar with the practice it's essentialy where miners vacuum up the river bed in search of minimal amounts of gold and then send the contents downstream in a plume of dirt, rock and heavy metals. The primarily recreational activity can cause damage to the streambed, bank erosion, disturb vegetation and be harmful to ESA-listed species (as there are no restrictions on dredging in habitat important to these species).

In fact, suction dredging is mostly unregulated in Washington state. The bill would require the Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish a workgroup and study the impacts of suction dredging on native fish habitats.

TU is also pushing for more tracking and monitoring of activities, enhanced enforcement authority for WDFW, permit and permit fee requirements and restrictions on suction dredging in sensitive habitats.

TU's Crystal Elliot had a personal account with suction dredging while touring Forest Service sites and gave this account:

"Ironically, I was out with the Forest Service on a tour of sites on Swauk Creek (steelhead stream and tributary to the Yakima River) in need of habitat restoration after decades of degradation from mining activities. We got out of the truck upstream of this site, and were welcomed by the loud rattle of a generator. Following the noise, we thrashed through the brush and into the stream channel, where we encountered a suction dredging operation. We were standing on the streambed about ankle deep in water, but right next to us was a channel-spanning pool four feet deep filled with hoses and bubbling muddy water. The suction dredge on pontoons floating nearby rattled away, making it virtually impossible to hear the voice of the Forest Service staff standing next to me while she talked to the suction dredgers. I had never seen anything like this and immediately grabbed my camera and started filming. But I almost dropped it when the miner in scuba gear popped up out of the pool he had created by vacuuming up the streambed. In fact, I don't think I could have been more suprised. But what shocked me the most about this experience was learning that what these miners were doing, in Endangered Species Act designated Critical Habitat for steelhead, is legal in Washington State (this particular operation had situated themselves too close to the highway...that was the ONLY thing illegal about what they were doing). And they can do it without a permit. Washington State is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on fish habitat restoration projects (which, by the way, all must pay for and receive permits for implementation) in the same streams where suction dredging operations can vacuum-up streambeds without project-specific oversight or paying for permits. It is time for Washington State to bring their suction dredging regulations up-to-date using a data-driven and scientifically-based approach, particularly in the context of ESA-listed fish species recovery."