A federal appeals court effectively halted gold mining this week in the Inyo National Forest’s Long Valley, a region measuring 10 kilometers in diameter that was created from volcanic eruptions 760,000 years ago.
Between 1850 and 1860, California’s population tripled as miners moved there to try and make it rich in the Gold Rush. Because of heavy rains becoming more common due to climate change, the gold that remains is being ejected from rock crevices and the state is seeing another wave of miners try their luck again.
In 2021, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) permitted the Canada-based Kore Mining Ltd. to mine for gold in the region, which is part of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. As a result, conservation groups sued the agency, saying it would potentially harm sage grouse, a species whose population is listed as
