After gaining significant protections for bighorn sheep on the Payette National Forest due to Advocates for the West's prior litigation...
Advocates Takes Next Step Against CuMo Mine
Date:
12/15/2011 Today, Advocates for the West submitted the Opening Brief on behalf of Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, and Golden Eagle Audubon Society in a challenge to the Forest Service approval of Canadian mining company Mosquito Gold’s plan to explore for copper and molybdenum in the headwaters of Grimes Creek on nearly 3000 acres of Boise National Forest land.
The mountainous project site, located 14 miles north of Idaho City, consists mostly of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest and is dissected by many tributaries of Grimes Creek. The site provides suitable habitat for numerous species of wildlife, including “sensitive species” such as great grey owl, northern goshawk, and wolverine. The rare flower Sacajawea’s bitterroot—known to exist only in central Idaho’s mountains—inhabits the site.
Despite Mosquito Gold’s ambitious proposal to clear 69 acres of vegetated land, build over 10 miles of new roads and 137 drill pads and mud pits, and operate four drilling rigs 24/7 throughout most of the year to drill 259 exploratory wells up to 3,000 feet deep, the Forest Service made a “finding of no significant impact” and approved the exploration.
The Opening Brief asks the Federal Court for the District of Idaho to halt Mosquito’s exploration and have the Forest Service conduct necessary studies on sensitive species and consider the water quality impacts from drilling adjacent to contaminated historic mining sites.
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