Our Wildlife
The proposed Rock Creek mine would be located in the
Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem in northwestern Montana. The mine would
be developed adjacent to and underneath the Cabinet Mountains
Wilderness Area. This wilderness provides important habitat
for several species, including the threatened grizzly bear,
bull trout, and lynx, and also for many other species
including mountain goat, fisher, wolverine, and Harlequin
duck.
The mine would severely impact the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly population by destroying 483 acres of habitat and altering an additional 7,044 acres that would be rendered unusable by the bear. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service admits the mine would impair breeding, feeding, and sheltering of bears and would significantly increase mortality risks from increased traffic and human use. The mine would be the nail in the coffin for this population, which may number as few as eleven bears.
The
mine also would destroy the north-south movement corridor
within the Cabinet Mountains and would eliminate the potential
of the Cabinet Mountains from serving as a corridor in future
recovery efforts linking bears in Canada with bears in the
Selway-Bitterroot Range. Biologists have stated that this
corridor is critical to the continuing viability of the
grizzly.
With respect to bull trout, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service admits that the mine would wipe out the bull trout fishery in Rock Creek. According to Montana's Bull Trout Restoration Team, Rock Creek is a key bull trout spawning and rearing stream. A large increase in sedimentation from mine construction and changes in groundwater flow, metals contamination, and catastrophic events are all impacts that will adversely impact bull trout. This area is also home to genetically pure strains of westslope cutthroat trout, another dwindling native population that is proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Because of the underground nature of the mine, wilderness lands above the mine could collapse and subside into the underground mine cavern. Some species dependent upon alpine wilderness lakes and streams also would be severely affected because certain lakes and streams would be placed at considerable risk of collapsing and draining or becoming contaminated with heavy metals.
The mine would seriously jeopardize the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly
population, one of the last remaining grizzly populations in
the lower 48 states. Today, grizzly bears occupy less than
one percent of their original range.
In the lower 48, the grizzly is found in only five isolated subpopulations: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (including Glacier National Park), the Northern Cascades Ecosystem, the Selkirk Ecosystem (in north-eastern Washington and north-western Idaho), and the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem in northwestern Montana.
In the lower 48, the grizzly is found in only five isolated subpopulations: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (including Glacier National Park), the Northern Cascades Ecosystem, the Selkirk Ecosystem (in north-eastern Washington and north-western Idaho), and the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem in northwestern Montana.
The mine would severely impact the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly population by destroying 483 acres of habitat and altering an additional 7,044 acres that would be rendered unusable by the bear. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service admits the mine would impair breeding, feeding, and sheltering of bears and would significantly increase mortality risks from increased traffic and human use. The mine would be the nail in the coffin for this population, which may number as few as eleven bears.
The
mine also would destroy the north-south movement corridor
within the Cabinet Mountains and would eliminate the potential
of the Cabinet Mountains from serving as a corridor in future
recovery efforts linking bears in Canada with bears in the
Selway-Bitterroot Range. Biologists have stated that this
corridor is critical to the continuing viability of the
grizzly. With respect to bull trout, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service admits that the mine would wipe out the bull trout fishery in Rock Creek. According to Montana's Bull Trout Restoration Team, Rock Creek is a key bull trout spawning and rearing stream. A large increase in sedimentation from mine construction and changes in groundwater flow, metals contamination, and catastrophic events are all impacts that will adversely impact bull trout. This area is also home to genetically pure strains of westslope cutthroat trout, another dwindling native population that is proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Because of the underground nature of the mine, wilderness lands above the mine could collapse and subside into the underground mine cavern. Some species dependent upon alpine wilderness lakes and streams also would be severely affected because certain lakes and streams would be placed at considerable risk of collapsing and draining or becoming contaminated with heavy metals.