Personal-use obsidian collection to reopen at the four Warner Mt. sites

Obsidian. Photo by iamchad, Flickr

The following is a press release from the Modoc National Forest.

ALTURAS, Calif. - After a year off due to the pandemic and five plus years of coordination with tribal and county partners, the Modoc National Forest will reopen the four designated collection areas in the Warner Mountains to personal-users with a valid permit.

The four collection areas shown on the map at https://go.usa.gov/x6NKB are the only locations obsidian collection is authorized on the Modoc National Forest.

Obsidian collection season will run this year from July 1 through Labor Day Weekend. Adults 18 years or older will be issued one-day permits authorizing collection of two five-gallon buckets of obsidian using hand tools only. A maximum of three permits per person per year can be issued up to three days in advance. Permits are only available at the Modoc National Forest Headquarters at 225 W. 8th St. in Alturas, Calif. Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-4:30 p.m.

Valid picture identification and vehicle information are required for each individual seeking permits. Permits for weekends and holidays must be obtained on days Forest Headquarters is open.

“We are happy to again offer this unique recreation opportunity and beautiful material for traditional cultural users and other artisans who use it to create amazing works of art,” said East Zone District Ranger Heidi Lowery. “It is not easy to find a balance between wise use and maintaining this nonrenewable resource for future generations, but it was clear the impacts of commercial and unpermitted mining were not sustainable or fair to the people most impacted. Hopefully all the hard work put into this new plan by forest staff and key stakeholders can offer collection opportunities, maintain the resource for future generations and limit the negative impacts on local communities, including those who have stewarded this resource for millennia.”

Though permitted personal-use collection will resume, commercial obsidian mining is no longer authorized on the Modoc National Forest.

Commercial mining impacts increased over the last decade as overseas purchasers sought large quantities of obsidian rocks. This led to unsustainable impacts to the resource, surrounding forest and nearby communities. Theft and illegal mining activities increased substantially with evidence of heavy equipment, unauthorized roads, wildfire ignitions, unsafe mining practices, impacts on other forest users and an overall unsustainable removal of this non-renewable resource.