Legacy Gold Mining and the Revitalization of the California’s Gold Country
The Sierra Fund Bi-Annual Conference: Gold That Regenerates Ecology and Community
The Sierra Fund, a small environmental NGO, has been at the forefront protecting and preserving the Sierra Nevadas. Part of their mission has been focusing on addressing the legacy of the California gold rush.
Twenty-six million pounds of mercury were brought to the Sierra during the CA Gold rush to be used in hard rock and hydraulic mining. Today, this mercury along with acid drainage from the approximately 47,000 abandoned gold mines continue to contaminate the watersheds. These watersheds, which include the Yuba and Sacramento rivers, supply 65% of the California’s drinking water. Presently, toxins are removed from public water supplies at great expense but they still contaminate fish and spill out into farmland through irrigation. A comprehensive paper by the Sierra Fund on these issues can be found here.
Along with the mercury, there is also copious amounts of gold both in the tailings along the watersheds from past mining and in the sediment at the bottom of reservoirs. The Sierra Fund has been focusing on the technical and social issues related to this problem. How can you dredge a reservoir without additionally contaminating downstream water supply? Is there enough gold in the tailings to mine and restore a riparian area?
To face these questions, Izzy Martin—the visionary CEO of the organization, has put together a remarkable team that has laid the groundwork for restoration projects with few financial resources but an abundance of heart, vision and tenacity.
In 2012, Sierra Fund Program Director Kerry Morse contacted me because of my advocacy through Fair Jewelry Action. She asked for a meeting in Santa Fe. At that point, the Sierra Fund had not had much contact with ethical jewelers. She asked, “Could there be some interest from jewelers in gold that could fund a clean up of the mercury?” We contemplated what might be possible as we hiked though some of the outlying woods of east of Santa Fe. At this time, fair trade gold was just launching in England. The notion of gold from California that could begin to heal the land and possibly create a new American gold story was something that I felt had market potential.
About nine months later, Greg Velario and I flew to California to take part in a powerful round table meeting with about twenty diverse stakeholders from industry, government science and the community. Martin Taber and Christina Miller from Ethical Metalsmiths were also at the meeting, along with Jennifer Krill from Earthworks.
We toured old mining sites, including the one shown in the photo above. We also had long discussions, ranging from the technicalities of mercury and gold removal to the social impact of gold on Native people from a tribal representative. There were several significant hurdles to overcome—some technical, feasibility and in the long term, marketing.
Since that conference, the Sierra Fund has made significant progress. The new gold story emerging from the catastrophic legacy of the forty-niners brings hope. Some day you may be able to buy a wedding ring made from gold from tailings along the Yuba that will fund riparian restoration and even a social premium that may support Native efforts to bring the salmon back up the watershed remains. This new American eco gold is, for me, an inspiration– particularly in context to the genocide of 100,000 Native people from the gold rush.
The upcoming conference will be held April 20th and 21st. This year’s agenda will set the stage for an era of mine reclamation and community revitalization in California’s Gold Country. Greg Valerio will be giving the keynote address and I will be presenting at one of the break out meetings. If anyone reading this post can make the conference, you will be rewarded tremendously. Here’s a link to the agenda. Visit the conference’s webpage here.
