April 30, 2010

Hello Goldhounds,
We all have been actively involved in trying to stop the State Parks from basically shutting down the Auburn State recreation area to prospecting. Two days ago I sent the following e-mail (and a letter) to Ruth Coleman, the State Parks Director. I sent another follow-up today, only it wasn't as nice. We have multiple fronts going and we need to pound them until they stop completely. They have not responded. This is an all out effort by all the organizations and groups who use this area for sluicing and gold prospecting. Dennis Robnett and Jim Hutchings have both devoted lots of time and energy on this, and so have many of you. This is a team effort of many organizations. The ICMJ is also working on this for us. Others as well.
Many of you have already send e-mails and letters. Evidently they are not hearing us so we need to turn up the heat!! Really turn it up. If you have not responded to them yet, please do so now. It's imperative.
From my viewpoint they are not only taking our rights away, but our freedom too. For those of you who are history buffs, remember Lexington and Concord, April 1775? The great and mighty British Army went down to defeat in Concord, by simple working men who fought for our country's freedom. We're doing that now.
Please send messages now so that on Monday morning it will take them all day just to download what we send. You don't need to be nice and pleasant, that doesn't seem to work anymore. State your feelings. Nail them hard. Here's their e-mail and mailing addresses. It's important that Ruth Coleman and Scott Nakaji be addressed first. That's where the decision came from.
Once they agree to public hearings (and they better) lets fill the building and the streets of the hearing. It's time we, the general people of this country, were heard and heeded.

Thanks.   Don..

April 28, 2010 Letter to Ruth Coleman, Director of California State Parks

Hi Ruth,
I'm Don Robinson, President of the Mother Lode Goldhounds. We are a minerals recreation organization based out of Auburn and Foresthill, California. We are a California non-profit Corporation. We primarily do gold prospecting and utilize the Auburn State Recreation Area as a base for many of our activities. We were a serious part of the development of the Auburn Recreation Plan at the very beginning, back in 1993. I was part of that effort.
Your Order Number 690-006-2010 violates everything that was written and agreed to at that time. This order is dated March 29, 2010, but was not delivered by Mike Lynch, your Auburn Recreation Manager, until April 23, 2010. This first delivery was make directly by Mike Lynch to Dennis Robnett at Pioneer Mining in Auburn.
We have also been informed that we may no longer gold pan or sluice as we have done in the past and as was agreed in the initial planning of the unique recreation area.
The implementation of this order is extremely serious for tens of thousands of recreational prospectors. This will also directly affect the tourism businesses of Auburn, Foresthill, Colfax, and all the neighboring towns. The income loss to the State will also be evident because people utilize the camping area of Mineral Bar, Yankee Jims and Ruck-a-Chucky solely for the purpose of finding some gold, regardless of the minute quantities.
The uproar and reaction to this directive will be furious and the reactions far beyond what the State Parks has likely ever seen.
I'm requesting an urgent meeting with you to discuss this issue. I'll invite to join us several of the heads of other organizations similar to ourselves. Hopefully we can start a dialog that will end this costly error by the State Parks system.
For the moment, I also request you to withdraw the implementation of this order, since there has not been any public input on this Directive. A public hearing is imperative for such a decision.
Ruth, I'll also send this as a postal letter to you, just in case you need it for formal documentation.
You can reach me at this e-mail address (goldworld@wildblue.net) and my telephone is 530 367-2891. Thanks for your consideration.

Don Robinson
President, Mother Lode Goldhounds

cc:    Jim Hutchings, GPAA
        Assemblyman Ted Gains  
        Assemblyman Dan Logue    
        Senator Dave Cox 
        Jennifer Montgomery Supervisor 5th District, Placer County
        Bruce Kranz, Colfax City Manager
        Congressman Tom McClintock
        Robert Richardson, Auburn City Manager
        Jim Holmes, Supervisor  3rd District, Placer County 
        Ron Milligan, Operations Manager, Bureau of Reclamation

April 26, 2010

Hello Goldhounds, to say I'm furious is an understatement.  The e-mail address I gave you below for Mike Lynch was wrong. My message came back, like yours may have. Here's what happened:
Last Friday I went down to the State Parks in Auburn to see if I could meet with Mike. He was out and the gal at the desk, whom I've seen there many times in the past, gave me the e-mail address for Mike Lynch. I'm cautious about these things so I ask her to write it down for me. She did. I also ask her for the e-mail address for Ruth Coleman, the Director of State Parks. She wrote that down for me too. Guess what? Both were wrong. I just went down there today to set up a meeting with Mike and found out he took this entire week as vacation.....There was another gal there and I showed her the written e-mails from the other attendant, and she said "Oh, those are wrong". She made the corrections on the sheet for me.......
So here we go:
Mike Lynch, Manager of the Auburn Recreation area:  mlync@parks.ca.gov
Scott Nakaji, District Supt, Gold Fields District: snakaji@parks.ca.gov
Ruth Coleman, Director of Ca State Parks: rcoleman@parks.ca.gov

If you sent an e-mail to Mike Lynch you need to re-send it to the above proper e-mail. E-mails are super and we all need to respond. I recommend messages to all of them. It can be the same message. Just change the name each time in the e-mail. Save your e-mail because you may be sending it as a letter later. Letters now carry a little more weight than e-mails.
On this isuue, I now recommend addressing this e-mail to Ruth Coleman, the State Parks Director and copying the other two. 
My original message follows. I'll keep you all informed as we advance.

Thanks. Don

April 25, 2010

Hello Goldhounds, this is to alert you of a significant and very serious change to our right to prospect for gold in the Auburn State Recreation area. This territory is the North and Middle Forks of the American River going upstream from the confluence, and cover 52 miles of recreational river activities. This covers Ponderosa, Yankee Jims, Mineral Bar and all that territory extending up past Mineral Bar, to the Wild River classification area of the North Fork of the American River.  Pennyweight Bar is not in this State Parks jurisdiction.
This just came down Friday and there is much to find out before we can proceed. However, through the State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation Order number 690-006-2010, effective March 29, 2010, has reduced all gold recovery activities to the classification of "Hands and Pans" only. This order is attached. This specific order references Gold panning as Rock hounding and falls under the rules regulating rock hounding.
Mike Lynch, the Manager of the Auburn State Parks Recreation Area, came and informed Dennis Robnett (Pioneer Mining) of this new regulation on Friday April 22nd. This prohibits sluicing and any use of tools of any kind for gold panning. Picks, shovels, trowels, scoops and all such equipment are prohibited.
Right off I suggest you send an e-mail to Mike Lynch and ask him to explain this regulation. His e-mail is mlynch@parks.ca.gov His boss, Scott Nakaji, who issued the order, can be reached at 916 988-0205. Please call him immediately and ask for an understanding as well. The State Parks Executive Director is Ruth Colman. Here's a link for information about her. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22217
All of this is preliminary but the order has been issued. My understanding from Dennis was that the State Parks Officers will be issuing warnings at this time, not citations. Friday I did go to State Parks in Auburn but Mike Lynch was out for the day.
I'll keep you informed.  We will have much better contact information later.
This is a serious threat to us all. Please react accordingly as I mentioned above and be prepared for action on our part as soon as we get all the facts straight.

Thanks.  Don