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Gold on the river bottom: Karuk Tribe files lawsuit against California

Posted by: Maven on June 10, 2009 at 12:32 pm

From Indian Country Today:

The Karuk Tribe has joined fishermen and conservationists in a taxpayer lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Game claiming tax money is being used illegally to fund suction dredge gold mining in California rivers.

It’s about fish and mercury. The mercury is leftover from Gold Rush days when it was used to collect gold from sluice boxes lining northern California’s rivers. An estimated 26 million pounds of mercury were used, 13 million pounds of which were lost to the waters and soil of the Sierra Nevada and Trinity mountains.

Suction dredges powered by gasoline or diesel engines are mounted on floating platforms. Gravel and sand are sucked up from the river bottom and sifted for gold. A Karuk tribal member says dredging, a virtual vacuuming of river bottoms, disturbs the deposited mercury and re-introduces it into the food chain.

“They call it ‘flowering’,” Karuk spokesman Craig Tucker said. “Mercury likes to coagulate in clumps. Run it through a dredge and it sprays the mercury in a fine mist back into the water. It’s picked up by fish that people might catch and eat. Swimmers, kayakers and rafters downstream from dredging could come in contact with it. Not only is dredging creating problems for fish, it’s creating problems for people.”

Read more from Indian Country Today by clicking here.

June 10, 2009 · Filed Under Northern California

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