Much of the land is owned by Western Aggregate, a mining company extracting gravel from the goldfields.
There are quarries to extract sandstone and gravel.
One other area, rather controversially that the Council's been considering extracting gravel from, is Finmere.
After the flooding, the raising of three houses was prioritised and long term options such as upgrading flood stopbanks and extracting gravel from the riverbed were investigated.
Large dump trucks rumble past on the right bank as they extract gravel from the adjacent pits while airguns seem to be favourite canalside amusement.
The dredge extracted gravel and created the hole it floated in, dumping the tailings behind it.
New Milton Sand and Ballast has been extracting gravel from gravel pits in south Ashley since before 1950.
The East Sussex Transport and Trading Company extracted gravel from the beach at Cuckmere Haven.
He allowed his supporters to do things destructive to the environment, such as damaging riverbeds by extracting rock, gravel, sand, and other building materials.
There is also a class of excavator or dredger used for extracting sand and gravel fitted with a scoop wheel.