The rising prices of precious metal seem to have started another gold rush. Donald Bean was working in the construction business but with sky rocketing prices of gold he came back to mining on claims that have been in his family since the Great Depression.
He holds gold mining claims in southern Oregon and set up his Reelfoot Mining operation on Sucker Creek. However a conservation group has sued him saying that his mining operations are causing habitat damages for the Coho salmon, also known as silver salmon or "silvers".
Lesley Adams is from the environmental protection group Rougue Riverkeeper and insists that Bean’s mining efforts on Sucker Creek which is a tributary of the East Fork of the Illinois River does not have state and federal permits to push gravel into the creek. He said that the dirty water flowing from the mining operations into the creek via underground pits is a violation of the Clean Water Act.
However Donald Bean said that he was in full compliance with the US Bureau of Land Management rules for the mine and that he was not discharging any water into the creek. He said that he was going to fight it as he did not feel like he had broken any laws or done anything wrong.
The area was mined heavily during the 1850s Golf Rush and logged heavily as well before the habitat protection was set up for the salmons reducing timber production in the area in the 1990s.