Today's Date is
May 20, 2012
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Updated 02/27/11
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Sustainable Gold and Gem Prospecting It's only natural that gold and gem prospecting locations hold historic places. Many have become major tourist attractions, Jimtown in California for example; that was where gold was first discovered and launched the 1849 gold rush. In 2010 visits to historical sites ranked 3rd among all of the activities of traveling Americans! Keep in mind that 1st place went to restaurants and 2nd place turned out to be shopping! This increase in usage can have very significant impacts on our access to areas because in many instances increased traffic and visitors have led to "damage". At many sites restrictions have been put in place by various government agencies to restrict access. A good many have already been completely "set aside" by the U.S. Forest Service to prevent further deterioration. A good example of this would be the Carissa mine in Wyoming near Atlantic City and South Pass is where the Oregon Trail crosses the Continental Divide. The Carissa mine was the largest gold producing operation in Wyoming. The area still contains numerous historically significant sites and a lot of gold as well. The popularity of gold and gem prospecting and rock hounding in these historic areas makes them valuable sources of revenue and recreation, but proper planning and reinvestment in site management becomes crucial. Reclamation and sustainable are not dirty words! It is important to the future of prospecting and should be embraced as a regular part of every trip into the field. Prospectors need to show that they have considered and planned for preserving our public lands. All this pressure to restrict access to our public lands is inevitable, if nothing more than realizing the population in the United States has doubled since 1950 from 104,000,000 to 309,000,000. We must respond now, each of us needs to take action, change our attitudes, embrace the horror so to speak! Hopefully this will help to ensure that our grand children have the opportunity to enjoy golden days prospecting in the sun as we do today. Stand proud in knowing you′ve taken the time and effort to reclaim your prospect, it′s not about begrudgingly filling in your holes. Good prospecting sites are usually associated with historic trails and towns. All of the streams and rivers that the pioneers followed are now recognized as being riparian areas, very fragile resources indeed! It should be obvious to all us prospectors and miners that inadequate site management will result in deterioration or even destruction of the site. This of course screws up its related social, historical, educational, and economic potential in the future. Not to mention that it also places another arrow in the quiver of those politically correct groups wanting to "set it aside now", ...remember it's for the children. With these concerns in mind Rocky Mountain Tourism,LLC and LearnGoldProspecting.com have decided it's time for us all to take the lead. We have started our new website, www.GreenProspector.com and have created a manual of internationally recognized good practices for prospectors, rockhounds, and tourists who visit geological and archaeological sites. We would be tickled to get your input, articles and ideas if any of you would like to contribute in what we hope will be a cooperative effort among our fellow prospecting enthusiasts. Naturally we′ll give credit for articles and pictures where credit is due! How about a link exchange? Email: Gold@LearnGoldProspecting.com |
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Prospector's Code of Ethics
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