Permitting

If you are looking for a water supply for a project or want to make changes to an existing water right, visit: https://ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Water-supply/Water-rights and contact your regional Department of Ecology office with additional questions. 

The Gold and Fish Pamphlet serves as the permit for freshwater mineral prospecting and mining activities as described in it. 
 
For more information, visit: https://wdfw.wa.gov/licenses/environmental/hpa/types/prospecting and contact the Washington State  Department of Fish and Wildlife at 360-902-2200 with additional questions 

Typically, if you are doing work in or near water, a Shoreline permit is required from your local jurisdiction (city/county) planning department.  We recommend contacting them first as they should be able to assist you with any other required permits and would most likely be the lead agency if a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review is required. 

Depending on the location and other factors, a permit may be also be required from the following agencies: 

• Department of Ecology

• Department of Natural Resources 

• Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife 

• US Army Corp of Engineers 

• US Coast Guard 

To streamline the environmental permitting process, several regulatory agencies joined together to create one application that can be used to apply for more than one permit at a time, titled: The Joint Aquatic Resource Permit Application or JARPA.   For more information, visit: http://epermitting.wa.gov.