Wow, I’m blown away by the complete ignorance towards small scale mining. There is no comparison to a small scale miner and a commercially operated mine. If your so concerned about the environment where is the outcry for mining of lithium and other rare earth elements used in electric cars?  Come on people!! Have common sense and do your own unbiased research on the subject. California banned gold dredging over 10 years ago……mercury levels in riparian insects has actuallY increased since then. The best thing you can do for your waterways is dredge them, looking for gold or not, dredging cleans the stream bead and removes trash debris and lead. Sierra Club fought to ban dredging in California, then they get a grant to operate one of the only dredges in the state on Lake Comby. How does that work? Please people swinging a metal detector or running a sluice box on public land should NOT be illegal.