Newsletter
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
President's Message: April 2026
It is getting warmer outside and I have the gold itch!
1. The season is getting warmer. Grab your concentrators and let’s go because gold is $4682/oz
2. Our March outing was great fun. We were guests at The Rock Shop up in Sequim. About 12 of us showed up and we were catered to some really cool things. The owners started out a little bit with a question answer period, and they were very patient with us new people. Our traveling wizard and gold master Jacob helped us around the shop, and with the owners, several of us had stones and rocks cut for us. There was the entire setup from cutting the raw stone to a complete polishing by the diamond grit wheels. It was all in all great fun and a riveting experience.
3. There will be a WWGPAA Board meeting this April the 11th at 0900 before the general meeting time. All are welcome to attend …especially the board members.
4. The April 11th 1000am meeting we will be our first of the semi-annual bake sale auctions. Come bring your dollars and delectable treats as we try to put everyone into a sugar coma by the end of the day. We will also be discussing our annual Freedom/Redbird maintenance and cleanup. This outing promises to be fun as we are being joined by the Kitsap Gem and Mineral Club. We will also be discussing a return joint outing for the May outing at one of their special creeks… come and find out more.
5. The April outing will be at our Freedom/Redbird claims for our annual meeting and maintenance period. We are hoping to arrive and start at 1000. Bring your favorite on the go food as we will also be having a tailgate potluck after the working party finishes. Afterwards relax and enjoy the day as we make our fortunes panning for gold and scavenging for rocks. The Kitsap Gem and Mineral club will be joining us for the joint fun and it promises to be a bunch of wild and crazy people.
6, Our 2026 Calendar is out. Please review it and make plans for a fun year.
7. Please see our Membership Coordinator to update your 2026 waiver and receive your 2026 dashboard pass. A reminder that reservations are now being taken for our September Cape Disappointment outing.
8. The newest version of the Gold and Fish book is on WDFW’s web site for download here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/02150
9. Reminder to all the claims are still open and turn your claims work forms into our claims manager Carl Kresnel.
Happy diggings. As always we are small scale miners.
Stay healthy,
Eric
WE ARE SMALL SCALE MINERS
Membership
You don’t have to be a member of GPAA to be a member of our chapter. You are welcome to mine on the claims that the chapter owns, provided you adhere to mining policies, rules and procedures. No dues are collected. Chapter funds are raised through bake sales, raffles and various other activities. Meeting minutes and By-Laws available for review at chapter meetings.
Please note: Only GPAA members can become chapter officers. Also, non-GPAA members must be with a GPAA member to use GPAA claims.
Claim Passes & Chapter Emergency Contact Info. Rodger and Karla Benson have the 2026 year claims passes available and will have them at meeting upon review of your emergency contact information.
If you no longer want to receive email notifications or to be a member of WWGPAA please notify Rodger or Karla at the meeting. Thanks.
The new version of the Gold and Fish book is on WDFW’s web site for download here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/02150 . All the claims are still open and turn your claims work forms into our claims manager. Happy diggings.