STEVENSVILLE — Community leaders, advocates and others took to the skies above Sheep Creek on Tuesday, where a controversial proposal for exploratory mining is under review, on flights organized by conservation groups.
Watch the full video below:
“We wanted to give people an opportunity to see it from the sky, because it might sound like something that's far away to drive or hike out there,” said Heather Barber, executive director of the Bitterroot Water Partnership. “But, if you can see it from the sky, you can have such a better sense of what the devastating impacts really could be for the Bitterroot.”
The planes took off from Stevensville and headed to the proposed project site, about 40 miles southwest of Darby, near the headwaters of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River. Tuesday’s were just some of several flights, donated by nonprofits LightHawk and EcoFlight, and put on by the Bitterroot Water Partnership, American Rivers and other conservation groups.
“Maps and technical reports can't totally give you an understanding of what it means to be at the absolute headwaters of the Bitterroot River,” Barber said. “Because whatever starts there, it doesn't stay in the headwaters, it travels downstream.”
Mining company U.S. Critical Materials (USCM) is looking to do exploratory drilling for rare earth elements at Sheep Creek, which they say is important for national security. But, the project has been controversial, especially due to the site’s proximity to the West Fork.
“Wildlife, fishing, recreation, tourism, farm and ranching. We have a tremendous amount of livelihoods and economies that are utterly dependent on clean waters,” Barber said. “So, getting a chance to see the headwaters of the Bitterroot River that are supporting an $80 million recreation and tourism economy, a $68 million fishing economy and more than 1,400 farms and ranches to understand how important those healthy headwaters are.”
Montana House District 86 Rep. David Bedey joined the flyover. Since childhood, he has spent a lot of time fishing up the West Fork and said that, as a member of the Legislature, he is intent of following along with the project.
“I’ll tell you the most amazing thing about the flight, and I could understand this from my own experience on the ground and looking at maps, but what's amazing here is just how close this particular mining activity is to the Upper West Fork of the Bitterroot River,” he said. “It's very difficult to see how a mining operation could take place here without significant and catastrophic harm to the river.”
USCM recently revised its operations plan after retracting an earlier version due to community concerns. The new version is scaled back from the first proposal with different approaches. MTN is in touch with the company and will have more coverage on plans for Sheep Creek soon.
Back in December, hundreds turned up and voiced concerns about the previous plan in a meeting with the Ravalli County commissioners.
“This is an issue that's bringing so many people together for our river,” Barber said. “It's been a real show of force of people in the Bitterroot coming together to say, ‘Not here. Not no mine, not nowhere, but not here.’”
Bedey said he is keeping an open mind about the project but has concerns about the exploration based on the information he has at this time.
“I'm not opposed to mining. I think responsible mining is a good thing. I think it would be good for our economy, and good in lots of different ways, but the key word there is responsible mining,” he said. “We don't want our river damaged. We're concerned about that because, if that were to happen, it would ruin our quality of life all throughout the Bitterroot.”
USCM recently announced plans to move its headquarters to Darby. MTN will have more information about that move, the new operations plan and more Sheep Creek updates.
Related:
Company behind Sheep Creek Project moving to Darby
Sheep Creek mine public meeting draws comments, concerns in Hamilton
Bitterroot National Forest responds to media reports about Sheep Creek mineral exploration
