Gold Hill Reclamation meeting 5-23-06
Corey Shuman
Gold Hill, Utah is in danger and needs your help. The Division of Oil
Gas and Mining has defined Gold Hill and the surrounding area as a
reclamation site. There will be a public meeting on Tuesday, May 23rd
from 6-8 pm (details below) to discuss the plans for this. I would ask
that anyone who can make it out, please do. This is important and if no
one shows up it shows OGM that no one cares. Really, all you need to do
is show up!!
Utah is one of the few states left in the West where you can still go
out and find an old ghost town or mine. You can freely walk through the
areas, exploring, treasure hunting and seeing the rich history that is
our heritage.
However, your freedom to explore these historical sites is in danger.
Each year the Division of Oil Gas and Mining defines new areas for
"reclamation". What is reclamation? It's an effort to close
historic old mines and mine camps and return them to their
"natural" state. Have you ever tried to search out an old mining
camp or ghost town only to find the area and there is nothing left?
This is the end product of reclamation.
Sometimes mines are gated, with no way of gaining access, often times
the gating also causes other dangers as explorers and others try to
gain access. (http://www.ogm.utah.gov/mining/default.htm)
Additionally, a few of you may have seen some reclamation sites that
show terrible workmanship and have left the area in worse shape than
when it started. (http://www.goldrushexpeditions.com/ophir_canyon.htm)
How does this affect the 4wd Community? Well, there is a little law out
there, the RS-2477.
(http://www.suwa.org/page.php?page_name=Camp_2477_Home) It basically
allows public access and sometimes maintenance for road that lead to
mine sites or claims. You don't have to own the claim, but if there
is a mine site, the road must remain open for access. So when these
sites are "reclaimed" the roads are no longer protected, which
allows many groups to step in and attempt to close these sites. Many
popular trails are the result of mining roads. Fins and Things in Moab
has an old copper mine near the end of it, Five Mile Pass has open
roads due to the many mine sites in the area. Little Moab, well, I'm
sure most of you have seen the mines in the area. Without the mines,
your access will go away. Look at California, Arizona and Nevada.
Offroading is prohibited in many areas and they all claim a near
complete reclamation of their mining history.
Gold Rush Expeditions strives to monitor ghost town and mine sites
throughout the state. Some of the threats to these sites are vandals,
developers and some who just don't realize the value of the sites.
One of the biggest threats to these sites is "reclamation".
Below is a table of the projects planned by OGM currently.
Project Name County Project Summary Approximate Date
Serviceberry Project Tooele (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of approximately 70 hard rock mine
openings and revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction
of grates, block or rock wall closures. Summer/Fall 2006
Labyrinth Project Emery & Grand
(PDF Map) Closure of 22 uranium mine openings along the Green River
corridor and revegetation of disturbed areas. Mostly manual labor with
several block wall closures. Summer/Fall 2006
Star District Project Beaver (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of 293 hard rock mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of grates,
block or rock wall closures. Summer/Fall 2006
San Rafael Swell Project Emery (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of approx. 181 Uranium mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of grates,
block or rock wall closures. Fall 2006/Spring 2007
Mammoth Project Juab (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of 135 hard rock mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of gates,
grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007
Paria Project Garfield & Kane (PDF Map) Equipment and manual closure of
approx. 23 mine openings in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument and revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction
of grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007
Gold Hill 1 & 2 Project Tooele (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of approx. 194 hard rock mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of gates,
grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007/Spring 2008
North Tintic 1 Project Utah (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of 82 hard rock mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of gates,
grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007/Spring 2008
Lakeside Project Tooele (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of 32 hard rock mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of gates,
grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007/Spring 2008
Kessler Project Tooele (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of 198 hard rock mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of gates,
grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007/Spring 2008
Brown's Hole Project San Juan (PDF Map)
Equipment and manual closure of approx. 40 Uranium mine openings and
revegetation of disturbed areas. May include construction of gates,
grates, block or rock wall closures. Fall 2007/Spring 2008
Your Utah heritage and history is being destroyed on a daily basis and
if we don't do something about it, we will all lose out. Can you
imagine not being able to drive out to an old ghost town, or never
finding an old mine in the mountains. How about restricting all your
offroading to small parks that you have to pay to access? This and more
is what apathy will bring about. I strongly urge you to please come
out to this meeting and show your support for Utah's mining history.
If you cannot make it out, please consider a donation, of any sort, to
Gold Rush Expeditions to help us keep fighting these closures.
I have attached a flyer about the meeting to this email, here are the
pertinent details:
When:
Tuesday, May 23 · 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Where:
West Wendover Library
590 Camper Road, West Wendover, NV
I will be leaving Salt Lake City at 4:00pm, I may be able to carpool
with one or two other participants, if you would like more info on
this, please contact me as indicated below.
Thank you for your support.
Lawyer Russ
occcured at this meeting, how many in attendance, etc?