MEDFORD (AP) — A federal judge has convicted an Oregon man of illegal mining while digging for gold on U.S. Forest Service land.

Clifford R. Tracy of Gold Hill was sentenced to a year on probation. He was also ordered to pay the costs to remedy his road-building and mining on Sucker Creek in Josephine County.

Tracy, 37, was cited before he was arrested in September. He spent 12 days in jail when he refused to sign a release agreement promising he wouldn’t continue mining.

U.S. District Judge Owen M. Panner did not impose any fine or additional jail time Monday after finding Tracy guilty of mining without an operating plan approved by forest officials.

Panner also refused to dismiss a lawsuit the government has filed against Tracy. The judge said he agreed with a motion by the U.S. Attorney’s Office arguing that Tracy had trespassed on public land and should be responsible for the environmental damage caused by his mining operation.

“It was totally inappropriate for him to continue mining,” Panner said. “There’s no question about the evidence or the law.”

Tracy repeated his claim the Forest Service is infringing on miners’ rights and said he would continue to work claims on Bureau of Land Management-controlled property in the same drainage.

“This has been a complete violation of due process,” he told Panner. “My right to minerals can’t be circumscribed by any agency.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil J. Evans said Tracy’s “contention about the rights of miners ignores the right of the Forest Service to manage public land.”

Both Tracy and the government agreed the miner had submitted an operating plan, but forest officials determined that the proposed work would cause “a significant surface disturbance” that could harm water quality in a creek where salmon live.

They proposed an alternative. But in July, Tracy withdrew from the process.

Tracy, however, built a road, cut down trees, diverted a small stream that flows into Sucker Creek, moved earth, created settling ponds that sent sediment into the creek, and began processing ore on his claim, according to court documents.

Tracy testified he first sought permission to mine the claim in 1996 when forest officials said a permit was required for operations that were already under way. He said he regularly checked on the progress of his application and in 2005 submitted a new, detailed plan for more extensive operations.

But Panner said Tracy should never have proceeded without permission just because he felt the process was taking too long.