Magazine

PLP and Mining Districts

PLP Update

October 2021 by Scott Harn

Public Lands for the People has been busily preparing for their FallFest, which will be held in Southern California October 8-10, while continuing to assist members with legal issues.

One such case involves a miner and PLP member who was cited by the Forest Service for occupying his claim in the Lewis & Clark National Forest without an approved Notice or Plan of Operation.

PLP Northern Director Clark Pearson provided the defendant copies of relevant court cases along with a new approach involving the 1905 Transfer Act. This Act transferred authority over laws governing public lands to the Department of Agriculture—which includes the Forest Service—but it appears to have excluded laws pertaining to “surveying, prospecting, locating, appropriating, entering, relinquishing, reconveying, certifying, or patenting of any such lands.”

If this authority over mining was not included in the transfer, then the US Forest Service would not have jurisdiction.

Most miners are fully aware that trying to get a Notice or Plan approved by the Forest Service is difficult at best and impossible at worst. Their use of vague terminology—such as “significant disturbance”—does nothing to provide regulatory certainty. There is also a severe shortage of qualified mineral officers within the Forest Service, and it can take many years and court battles to get a project approved.

Under the previous administration—and prior to the ban on in-person meetings in Washington, D.C., due to Covid—we had some productive meetings with agency leaders about the need for regulatory certainty in order for America to produce critical and strategic minerals. I think the majority of miners would agree that excluding the Forest Service in favor of working with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would be a huge step in the right direction.

We will certainly keep you posted as this case progresses.