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Recreational Gold Panning and Rockhounding
There is still gold in them thar hills! The lure of gold is what
brought the miners to Alaska over 100 years ago and is still attracting
folks searching for that elusive nugget today. Gold panning and
prospecting, if not lucrative can be a fun outdoor entertainment for
almost every age.
TIP: Learn with our new How to Pan for Gold video.
As you drive through Alaska, you may notice many signs of past
mining activities - tailing piles, abandoned dredges and equipment,
scars from hydraulic mining, and old mining camps. Even simple hand
tools can scar and destroy resources. Before you take your pan in hand,
consider the impacts recreational gold panning can have:
Sluicing gravels can cause silt to wash into the streams and
destroy fish spawning beds. Use back eddies and side pools to reduce the
amount of dirt and silt entering the main stream channel.Do not dig into or near bridge abutments.Work only in the stream channels or on unvegetated gravel bars to protect bank stability and prevent erosion.Know who the landowner is when you plan your gold panning activity.
Prospecting on BLM managed lands is limited to hand tools and light
equipment, such as gold pans, rocker boxes, sluice boxes, or picks and
shovels. Use of motorized equipment, such as backhoes, bulldozers, and
suction dredges, are not allowed without a permit. It is important that
you know who the landowner is when you plan your gold panning activity.
For more information on mining visit the BLM-Alaska Mining home page.
Northern Alaska
Panning is allowed on any federal stream segment along the Dalton
Highway south of Atigun Pass (MP 244), with the following exceptions: no
panning in the pipeline right-of-way (27 feet or 8.2 m on either side
of the pipeline) and no panning on federal mining claims without
permission.
Panning for Gold Along the Dalton Highway
Interior Alaska
The Nome Creek Valley offers a four-mile area set aside for
recreational gold panning. The Nome Creek valley turnoff is at milepost
57 on the Steese Highway, northeast of Fairbanks. There is also a
public gold-panning area on Jack Wade Creek from one quarter mile(.4km)
upstream of the Walker Fork Campground to the mining claims near mile
post 85. Panning is not allowed on adjacent mining claims.
Taylor Highway Fortymile Gold Country Travel Guide
South Central Alaska
There are many areas available for recreational gold panning just outside of Anchorage on the beautiful scenic Kenai Peninsula.
Guide to Recreational Gold Panning the Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
You can also visit the State of Alaska’s guide to Alaska gold panning and placer mining resourcesrest! | ||
