Gold Ray Dam on the Rogue River, Oregon

[Lamplighter]

Sometimes it seems you just can't win...

NY Times article
Where Dams Once Stood, Prospectors Spur Anger
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: September 3, 2010

GOLD HILL, Ore. — When four dams on the Rogue River here were scheduled for removal, environmentalists predicted many benefits: more salmon and steelhead swimming upriver to spawn; more gravel carried downriver to replenish the riverbed; more rafters bobbing along 57 miles of newly opened water.

What they did not bargain for was the arrival this summer of a clutch of people, eager to sift through the tons of gravel for flakes of gold once hidden behind the dams.

Resentment now flows as freely as the river. Environmentalists and some riverside homeowners see the gold dredgers as noisy invaders rearranging the riverbed without care for the insects, fish and people who live in and along the Rogue.

Senator Atkinson and the environmental leaders point out that many cars parked along the river carry California license plates.
But Beth Moore, general permits coordinator for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality,
said 1,205 dredging permits had been issued this year, up from 934 in 2009.
Of 432 new applications, only about 54 — or 12.5 percent — of the permits went to Californians.

Oregonians have some negative feelings when it comes to Californians...

Remember the 1960's road signs at the OR/CA border saying
"Come for a visit and enjoy Oregon, but then GO HOME"