Jack Nixon's Mine

The USFS and Local Law Enforcement De-home Local Public for Living on Public Land

All photos by Greg Schimke, US Forest Service, unless otherwise specified.


On January 12^th, 2010, the U. S. Forest Service moved against a group of buildings and residences known locally as "Jack Nixon’s Mine" or "Dredge Mine" which is just off Highway 49 just west of Sierra City.

Many local residents are angry about the action, for a variety of reasons.

One would be that there were people living there. The residents were evicted, if not at gun point, at least guns were present and ready for use. There is a surplus of men in our society, particularly old men. Many veterans failed to die in war, and failed to do well in peace. While there are services available for homeless families, there are fewer services for single men, even veterans. There were three people living in the houses.


To someone with a federal job this might not look like much; to someone sleeping under a bridge, it's paradise.

A second reason would be that, once again, the Forest Service has pulled down structures that didn’t qualify as "historic" mine buildings, and they’ve made certain they never will become "historic". The mindless destruction of local culture is a problem world wide, and the Forest Service is doing their part right here in the county.

A third and very important reason would be that they conducted this action, once again, without proper notice to local people, or our representatives. The reason for this last is probably that we would have stopped them, had we known. There would have been a flashmob (by local standards) which would have at least made it difficult to conduct the action. Notice was actually published, in the Union. Some people do read the Union, but it hardly qualifies as a local Sierra County newspaper. A county of 3000 people with 3 news sources can’t be expected to read a Nevada County rag.

The Local Board of Supervisors is going to take on the third reason. It appears that the Forest Service might have played fast and loose with the law. Even if the county has a clear case of some kind, they’ll wear Jim Curtis out and have no effect at all on the Forest Service.

To put it into perspective, the U.S. Forest Service HERE is like a huge mushroom growing on our national forest. The top of this mushroom is in Washington D.C. and way, way out on a root hair of the thing, all the way across the U.S., is the Forest Service that tore down Jack Nixon’s Mine.

The Breadth of the Problem

Sheriff John Evans did know about the action, and conducted himself as a professional law enforcement officer, instead of a county sheriff beholden to his people. Likely Sheriff Evans, who is running for office now, will have a gooooood explanation.

The Forest Service, under the direction of Greg Schimke, moved heavy equipment in and destroyed what there was, putting personal items into portable storage units, collecting hazardous materials for disposal, and sending tons of metals to be recycled.

The Dredge Mine hasn’t been worked for many years. The buildings, including the homes, represented a kind of human development that people from here recognize. There were stockpiles of plastic pipe and aluminum sheeting and iron parts. These are the raw materials of industrious people. One gathers these things when they are cheap for when they are needed. The buildings and homes were makeshift or cheaply constructed, and served for years and years. The cost/benefit to building like this as opposed to hiring engineers and contractors and buying all new materials is simply a no-brainer. People who like to be free, who like to be independent, use these means to be so.

Home sweet home.

But, free people are not allowed on public lands.

In a discussion with Ann Westling, Public Relations Officer with Tahoe National Forest, it was explained to the readers of the Prospect that the National Forest Lands were "set aside". Now you know how Native Americans feel, who had their lands "set aside". The lands were "set aside" for the use of the United States, with the intention that there would be many uses.

Here’s the Prospect’s question, not to Ann Westling, who is a wonderful, patient person and has absolutely no power to change anything, but to whatever shadowy figures lurk in whatever comfortably appointed offices they inhabit: isn’t that what these people were doing, using public lands?

Ms. Westling had their stock answer: the resources of the people of the United States are protected from other people of the United States through the use of permits.

But, that answer is not very satisfying. There is no permit for the uses these people, and people like them throughout the nation, need. There are homeless people everywhere; some people simply can’t live in a city. They would rather live a meager life as relatively free people than live off the dole in the city. There is no permit for that, and if there were, these people probably can't afford to get them filled out, NEPA wise.

Which is not to say that there was no public concern about the mine. There were the things one finds at a mine site; mercury, cyanide, petroleum products. Very likely no one would have minded if the Forest Service had sent a pickup down to get those things, but the Forest Service simply doesn’t know how to operate like that.

Then, there was no "approved, permitted septic system". There isn’t any clear assessment of how much risk old man poop poses, but it doesn’t matter, even if they’d had a fully functional septic system, they still would have been evicted from the People’s Lands.

Wealthy people collect yachts and Degas; poor people collect what might be useful.

Ann Westling had a question for the Fringe Editor of the Prospect: do we want to see the National Forest become a huge homeless camp?

Yes, yes we do. People become homeless for a host of reasons. Some have committed crimes. A prison record won’t often get you that great job. Where do you want people to live? Life in the woods isn’t easy, and the fewer amenities you have, the more easy it isn’t. If people are willing to live in the woods, aren’t they the public? Aren’t they public lands?

The problem is that independent people do collect things other people see as garbage. Abandoned homeless camps along the Pacific coast often cost thousands to clean up, and occasionally macabre evidence is found. Indeed, not everyone in Sierra City was displeased to see Nixon’s mine go. The mine was potentially a source of pollution in the creek, and trouble in the neighborhood. Anyone could come and go from the camp, and there had been unsavory characters there in the past. When something goes missing, decent folk tend to look down into the holler for the culprit.

Again, I ask the faceless bureaucrats, and the community, where do you want people to go, if not our public land? Yet, under current laws certain felons aren’t legally allowed to sleep in a national park. Should we, as a society, just be up front and issue cyanide and a pine box when we let someone out of prison? Will the unnecessary and suspicious please perish in an orderly fashion?

Ann didn’t have an answer for that. It isn’t that she doesn’t personally care, it’s that it simply doesn’t appear on her desk.

Neither did Greg Schimke have an answer for that. In discussion at the mine site, Mr. Schimke was very open and professional. Some decisions simply don’t fall to him. He has no answer for them, no resources to find answers. His part as Minerals Officer is really quite limited. He conducted his role as humanely and professionally as possible, but there really wasn’t anything he could do except what the law calls for.

We were shocked when we first saw this photo: we thought it was the Prospect Office.
Let’s be clear, if Mr. Schimke had said, "no, I refuse to destroy those cool old houses and make these people and the ones who come after them homeless," nothing would have changed. Schimke would find himself re-assigned to Freezing Shack, Montana, to oversee the cleanup of a copper mine and some new, fresh-faced minerals officer would appear in his place here. Regardless the apparently sneaky and underhanded manner with which this deed now appears to have been accomplished, Schimke has earned some trust in the community, and even in this he has demonstrated he can be trusted to carry out his job. It simply isn’t reasonable to ask him or any bureaucrat to sacrifice income and retirement over something like this.

Greg Schimke denied that jackboot tactics were used, but probably that’s because jackboot tactics weren’t necessary. Local law enforcement, under the direction of a Forest Service specialist in such actions, approached the men, who without aggravation, moved on. But, the jackboot was there. If one or more of the men had said, "this is our home, we’re not leaving" it would have come to force and perhaps death. The cops weren’t unarmed, they were probably fully armed and had protective gear. Fine, if it isn’t jackboot; what is it when armed cops throw someone out of their home?

We’ll note a couple of things. There is no evidence that the owners of the mine wanted the people moved or the buildings destroyed, and they might not have even been notified. We’re waiting to see if they get billed for the action. Had they wanted the people to move but were refused, maybe a jackboot is necessary.

Likewise, someone cooking meth in the woods and dumping toxins everywhere, sure, jackboot that.

Also, an industrial timber company that skins public lands for pennies on the dollar, sure, jackboot them, too. Those are the users of public lands that most often worry some of us. Ah, but they have attorneys and lobbyists and other experts, so they have permits.

Clearcut, Plumas NF  BLM.gov photo

Finally, while we appreciate the news Ann Westling sends (there’s some in this issue), and while she is fearless at the defense of the Forest Service, her insistence that these lands belong not to the King, but to the People of the United States, is exposed as the official lie it is in her answers to questions we sent (below) and in the sign on the gate (above). The owner of the buildings was the government of the United States. It’s a distinction the evicted people notice, and we notice it, too.




A guy with a job: Greg Schimke.  Prospect Photo

Questions to the Forest Service answered by Ann Westling:

Who decided to remove the cabins at Dredge Mine?