Judge's order bars enforcement in Oregon gold mine dispute

Jeff Barnard, Associated Press Published 3:59 pm, Wednesday, May 20, 2015

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — The federal government and southern Oregon gold miners have each taken a step back from tensions over a mining claim where a constitutional activist group has posted armed guards.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is holding off enforcement action. The miners have agreed not to work the claim until their appeal of the agency's decision against their operation is resolved.

The deal was affirmed Wednesday in a decision from an Interior Board of Land Appeals administrative law judge forbidding the BLM to enforce an order halting work at the mine. The judge noted the miners were not going to try to mine, and BLM did not oppose the stay.

Rick Barclay, one of the mining claim owners, says this could de-escalate tensions by removing the need for the Oath Keepers to guard the claim to assure the miners get their day in court.

"If this is indeed everything the attorney asked for, this will de-escalate the situation for the time being," Barclay said. "It many mean my guests will be going back to their daily lives."

BLM noted in a statement that the stay included provisions that the miners would refrain from "taking any action inconsistent with existing BLM regulations."

Barclay and his partner, George Backes, had called in the Oath Keepers after becoming concerned that BLM might seize their mining equipment and destroy a cabin before their appeal was heard. Barclay and Backes maintain that holders of the six claims dating to the Gold Rush never gave up surface rights to BLM, which contends it holds surface rights giving it authority over mining on the claim.

Mary Emerick, spokeswoman for the Josephine County chapter of Oath Keepers, said the stay was one condition for withdrawing the armed guards, but the group was holding off a decision until after they talked to the local sheriff.

Meanwhile, the group posted on its website that it would be marching and passing out pocket editions of the U.S. Constitution on Saturday in the Boatnik Parade in Grants Pass, a local festival celebrating powerboat races on the Rogue River.

The group has maintained a camp on private land north of Grants Pass, and armed guards dressed in camouflage at the Sugar Pine Mine on BLM land outside the historical gold mining community of Galice.

In Nevada last year, members of the Oath Keepers joined hundreds of armed supporters of Cliven Bundy in a faceoff against BLM to stop a roundup of cattle from public land where the rancher allowed his stock to graze near Bunkerville.

Federal officials accused Bundy of failing to pay more than $1 million in grazing fees over more than 20 years. Bundy says the federal government has no authority over the land.

Bureau officials backed off, and Bundy and his supporters declared victory. But Bureau of Land Management officials say they are still pursuing an administrative and legal resolution of the dispute.