NEWS RELEASES
Idaho Mining Law Pushed Out By Outdoor Recreation
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through High Country News' website.
The location is Boise, Idaho. The scene is the South Fork Payette River that bends through the tiny community of Lowman. The the river has long attracted attention as both a source of valuable minerals and a destination for outdoor recreation. In March, a federal administrative law judge for the Bureau of Land Management prohibited mining on 35 small claims along the stream. Judge Andrew S. Pearlstein concluded that scouring the streambed for gold and other minerals would interfere with the activities already taking place — boating, camping and fishing, among others — and that those activities have a greater economic value than mining.
According to High Country News writer Adam Sowards, "This trend may well continue, as Westerners increasingly choose recreation over mining." Periodically, Congress closes specific areas of public land to mining, for a variety of purposes. National parks are the most obvious example, but the Department of the Interior also reserved potential dam sites, protecting promising hydropower locations from private claims. It appears that Western mining economy no longer routinely reigns supreme, because in some places due to the economic impact of recreation.
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