Wlderness Act Threatens Colorado Panners, Prospectors and Miners

FROM an article by the GPAA in the Pick and Shovel Gazzette

BY BRAD JONES

..."In Western Colorado, prospectors and miners are facing an old foe — U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.An environmental activist, Salazar served as a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009, when he resigned his senate seat to become Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama.“Ken Salazar is trying to shut down the whole west end of the state of Colorado and make some kind of Wild and Scenic areas out of it. We’ve been fighting with the legislature on that — talking with congressmen and senators. I have been in touch with several of them and they are trying to stop it, but they can only do so much,” Peterson said.“What they are doing is illegal!” They are trying to designate areas as Wild and Scenic and when you look up the description of Wild and Scenic, they don’t even fit the scope or picture of what is Wild and Scenic. They are trying to designate whichever way they can to get it to go through,” he said.“They’ve already closed a bunch of areas. You can’t take any ATVs or any kind of equipment across there. They call it the Wilderness Act.”Peterson blames the signing of the Colorado Wildernesss Act of 1993 under former President Bill Clinton for many of the problems Colorado outdoors groups, including prospectors, now face. Back then, the Wilderness Act designated 19 areas within the National Forests and public lands of Colorado, encompassing 612,000 acres, as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. It also restricted activity in five areas, totaling some 155,000 acres under other land management plans.“It wasn’t until the Clinton administration that they really started to push this Wilderness thing,” Peterson said.“What Clinton did in the Wilderness Act — you can’t even walk across the land. You can’t leave any kind of trace like footprints or anything else. If you could fly across it, you’d be fine, but you are not supposed to be touching the ground in a Wilderness Area.”Since then, hundreds of thousands more acres of public lands have been designated as Wilderness Areas in Colorado and have been closed to prospecting, mining and other outdoors activities.Salazar played an pivotal role in locking up even more of these public lands by introducing the legislation in May 2008 that led to the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area and Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Act. The legislation designated approximately 200,000 acres as Dominguez-Escalante Canyons National Conservation Area, which includes the more than 66,000-acre Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area.Salazar was already at the helm of the Department of the Interior when an internal memo earmarking 13.5 million acres of public lands for possible designation as “National Monuments” under the Antiquities Act, was leaked to the news media last year."

The Peoples Republic of Boulder and Wheatridge

Doing some research on places to go recreational gold panning in the Denver area led me to something quite disturbing and even shocking. In a state that was literally founded only because of gold panning and mining, we now find that apparently the state and most specifically a couple of small thinking towns not only are embarrassed by the states heritage, but have outright banned their own heritage.

The Peoples Republic of Boulder and Wheatridge in fact banned their own heritage. That's right, it is illegal to pan for gold in Boulder (the entire county in fact) and also within the City limits of Wheatridge (I know it's Wheat Ridge, but nobody says it as two words) which is now attempting to annex Clear Creek all the way to the Golden city limits. Wheatridge banned prospectors in a park named "Prospectors Park". Absurd? You betcha.

You can fish in Clear Creek in Wheatridge, lose sharp hooks and lead sinkers and plastic bobbers and nylon line in the stream and catch and kill the wildlife there, you can kick rocks around while wading and disturb the stream bed all you want if you are a kayaker or fisherman (I have nothing against kayaking or fishing, in fact I enjoy fishing myself, but lets keep it real, shall we?) You can dump your trash in the stream (as evidenced by all of the trash in the streams) but don't you DARE even thinking about removing any gold.

No sir. not here is a larger issue at stake here. The right of a city or county or private individual to "claim ownership" of what the Colorado Constitution says is owned by the citizens of the state of Colorado (the public).

It seems to me, that Boulder and Wheatridge believe for some reason that they can "opt out" of the Colorado State Constitution.

Public Trust Doctrine-
Section 5 of article XVI of the constitution of the state of Colorado: (summary, emphasis mine)

"(1) The water of every natural stream within the state of Colorado is hereby declared to be the property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the state, subject to appropriation as herinafter provided.

(2) This Colorado Public Trust Doctrine is adopted, and implemented, by the people of the state of Colorado to protect the public's interests in the water of natural streams and to instruct the state of Colorado to DEFEND the public's water ownership rights of use and PUBLIC ENJOYMENT.

(3) This Colorado Public Trust Doctrine provides that the public's estate in water in Colorado has a legal authority superior to rules and terms of contracts or property law.

(4) The Public confers the right to the use of its water, and the diversion of the water under section 6 of this article, to an appropriator for the beneficial use as a grant from the people of Colorado to the appropriator for the common good.

(5) (A) Access by the public along, and on, the wetted natural parameter of a stream bank of a water course of any natural stream in Colorado is a right of the public to the use of its own water in concert with provisions of this Colorado Public Trust Doctrine.

(B) The right of the public to use of the water in a natural stream and to the lands of the banks of the streams within Colorado shall extend to the naturally-wetted high water mark of the stream and is impressed with navigation servitude for commerce and public use as recognized in this Colorado Public Doctrine.

(C) The water of a natural stream and its streambed, and the naturally-wetted lands of the shores of the stream, shall not be subject to the law of trespass as the water of natural streams and the banks of their stream courses are public highways for commerce and public use.
(D) Public use of water, recognized as a right in this Colorado Public Trust Doctrine, shall not be controlled in law as a usufruct but shall be a right of the public to protect and ENJOY its own water.

(6) Enforcement and implementation of provisions contained within this Colorado Public Trust Doctrine to protect the public's rights and interests in water is mandated to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of Colorado State government to act as stewards to protect the public's interest in its water estate. ANY citizen of the state of Colorado shall have standing in judicial actions seeking to enforce the provisions of this section.

(7) Provisions of this section are self-enacting and self-executing."

It seems pretty clear that we (the citizens of Colorado) own the water and the streambed and the naturally wetted land up to the high water mark in fact.

It seems pretty clear that Boulder and Wheatridge believes otherwise, that THEY (the city of) own the land the water and the sky above and we (gold prospectors) are mere annoyances, to be banned and outlawed and run out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered to make room for the environmentally friendly kayakers, fishermen, rafters and such. You know, the activities this state was founded and built upon. (lol)

I think it was in 1845 or maybe '46 that the first kaykers and bicyclers discovered Colorado and the kayak bicycle boom was on, by 1859 over a million kayakers from back east had populated the area and built Denver to be the city we know and love today. Thank God for kayaks and bicycles.

What a disgrace that Colorado has shunned it's own heritage, led by the likes of the Peoples Republic of Boulder and now Wheatridge.
Ask the average Okie what a sooner is and every single one of them can give you a detailed description with great pride of how that state was formed by a bunch of cheaters basically (hey I'm originally from there so I can say that, besides it's true) the point is they know their states history.

Ask the average Coloradoan where the first gold strike was or where gold is found or anything about gold and you will most likely get a blank stare... followed by a lecture on the evils of gold mining.

Where is our state government as ordered to do in the above articles, in protecting our right to our waterways?

Wake up Colorado, your rights are being stripped away while you pretend to care about the state, the heritage and our streams.

Write or call the state attorney generals office and ask them why Boulder and Wheatridge get to opt out of the articles of our state constitution Public Trust Doctrine and take away our rights?