This one is too big: http://klamathriver.org/images/KlamathRiverSuctionDredge.jpg

Nice video...still no evidence the dredging is any different than what nature does at any time of the year, spring flow, summer flood. Autumn stream flow is negligible. And I'll stand by my statement that the sediment only goes a few feet. Nice pretty pictures tho. Right up there with global warming.

Vince,

I wonder if we watched the same You Tube video? It was evident from the video that the sediment went far more than just a few feet, it clouded downstream for quite a ways. Fine sediment does not fall out of suspension in a few feet. It can go on for miles. Also, you apparently ignored the portion where they explained the imbalance created in the disburbance of small underwater insects which fish feed on. Lastly, unearthing old mercury deposits from years ago is no small matter. That stuff is pure poison. I would not so easily dismiss the environmental studies and biology of fish habitats. Panning for gold is low impact. Suction dredging is something else altogether.

Jim

Quote
tomdisco
Vince,

I wonder if we watched the same You Tube video? It was evident from the video that the sediment went far more than just a few feet, it clouded downstream for quite a ways. Fine sediment does not fall out of suspension in a few feet. It can go on for miles. Also, you apparently ignored the portion where they explained the imbalance created in the disburbance of small underwater insects which fish feed on. Lastly, unearthing old mercury deposits from years ago is no small matter. That stuff is pure poison. I would not so easily dismiss the environmental studies and biology of fish habitats. Panning for gold is low impact. Suction dredging is something else altogether.

Jim

I disagree. You have to consider the motivation of the people doing these "studies" and who pays for them. There is no evidence, by my personal experience, that any of this activity harms anything at all. You're looking at a once-in-a-while photo and you are not being realistic at all. Remember the ugly photos of polar bears floating on small ice bergs, with no consideration that they actually swam there. Don't fall into the propaganda of the environmental extremists. I will give you a big concede, though...if hobbby dredgers are concentrating their efforts below the foothills, I wouldn't let them. Anything upstream of, say, Folsom Lake, Oroville Lake, or Mocassin Power Plant, for example, should be OK.

And don't forget much of the plight of the salmon is due to the sale of water to SoCal, which to my knowledge has no salmon runs.

Quote
Vince
SoCal, which to my knowledge has no salmon runs.

Some are being restored.

Vince,

I don't rank fish and wildlife personel as far out enviromentalists. Most of them are blue collar grunts who work side by side with game wardens.

Jim

Quote
tomdisco
I don't rank fish and wildlife personel as far out enviromentalists. Most of them are blue collar grunts who work side by side with game wardens.

But if you don't have a real argument (or data), just call them names instead.

Quote
Vince
And don't forget much of the plight of the salmon is due to the sale of water to SoCal, which to my knowledge has no salmon runs.

One might want to give due credit to the agricultural interests in the Great Central Valley:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake

[One of my prized possessions is a framed page of North America from a 1847 altas. It clearly depicts two "Tule Lakes" in the valley. Many present-day road maps still show the location of these lakes, labelling them as dry lakes. During the exceptionally heavy rains that occurred about 15 years ago, the southernmost location, being used for growing cotton at the time, was temporarily reclaimed by Mother Nature for water storage.]

Quote
szalkowski

Quote
Vince
And don't forget much of the plight of the salmon is due to the sale of water to SoCal, which to my knowledge has no salmon runs.

One might want to give due credit to the agricultural interests in the Great Central Valley:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake

[One of my prized possessions is a framed page of North America from a 1847 altas. It clearly depicts two "Tule Lakes" in the valley. Many present-day road maps still show the location of these lakes, labelling them as dry lakes. During the exceptionally heavy rains that occurred about 15 years ago, the southernmost location, being used for growing cotton at the time, was temporarily reclaimed by Mother Nature for water storage.]

Yep

Huell addressed this a few years ago