Buffalo Gulch Gold Mine Threatens the South Fork Clearwater Basin

The Cottonwood Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently re-opened the public comment scoping period for a proposed gold mine three miles northwest of Elk City, Idaho. Its cyanide heap leach mining process has already been banned by Montana citizens. Site specific, project level effects of the potential mining operation have not yet been released in an upcoming draft environmental impact statement. However, according to a 1990 Environmental Assessment referenced by the BLM, a new, cyanide heap leach mine would cover several hundred acres of BLM lands among its scattered holdings in the South Fork watershed.

Both Buffalo Gulch and the South Fork Clearwater River are listed as impaired 303(d) streams under the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the BLM from permitting any activity that may violate water quality standards. No new, point source discharges can affect any of the parameters associated with 303(d) water bodies. Idaho laws and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations also require that no further degradation occur in either of these drainages. The use of cyanide at the proposed mine raises further concerns. Air quality may be compromised by cyanide off-gassing and wind-borne waste material. Trucks carrying cyanide waste along hazardous, access highways, Idaho 12, 13, and 14, present great spill risks to the South Fork tributary and the entire Clearwater River system.

Two toxic spills into the Lochsa and Middle Fork Clearwater rivers have already recently occurred. Emanating from either the mine or associated transportation, cyanide leachate contamination would devastate the watershed. The South Fork Clearwater River cannot afford a resurgence of incredibly degrading heavy metal mining. The effects of past mining still haunt the impaired river, home to threatened bull trout, Chinook salmon, and steelhead. Species of great concern, such as Pacific lamprey and Westslope cutthroat trout, also occur in this area that cumulatively affects other downstream, listed, fish species. Besides the mine site itself posing hazards to wildlife, if cyanide leaked into a stream, it would additionally impact other aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. Endangered Species Act protections must be enforced at Buffalo Gulch, even if they deny 1872 Mining Law privileges.

This project could also negatively affect treaty rights and public recreation, especially if a cyanide spill or leak occurred, as fishing in the South Fork Clearwater River is important both culturally and economically. Since the completion of Dworshak Dam, which blocks native fish migrations between the Pacific Ocean and North Fork Clearwater River, the South Fork has gained added significance as a rare, local, anadromous fishery. Beyond mining, the ailing South Fork Clearwater River has been under heavy assault over the last several years. Several, large, timber sales, including the Crooked American and Eastside Township projects, are currently planned and/or approved for the upper South Fork drainage. Moreover, the Buffalo Gulch claim holding is far larger than the proposed mine area, which could be expanded in the future. The cumulative impacts of all these destructive, extractive endeavors must be addressed by concerned citizens through public comments and considered by the appropriate agencies.

Please contact the BLM with your concerns about the environmental impacts of this project on 170 acres of YOUR public lands, including these potential problems:

* Located on a ridge above Buffalo Gulch and the South Fork, the mine could release sediment and toxic chemicals into these impaired 303(d) streams and thus violate state and federal water quality regulations. Many local residents depend on springs and wells that drain the ridge for their drinking water. Westslope cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, and threatened bull trout, Chinook salmon, and steelhead inhabit area waters.

* Transportation, use, and storage of five million pounds of sodium cyanide during 24-hour, year-round mine operation at 4,500 feet elevation over five years pose significant probabilities of leaks, spills, accidents, and terrorism at the project area and along narrow, winding, access roads perched along rivers. Only chain link fences and earthen berms would separate the mine site from avian and terrestrial wildlife and interlopers.

* Other detrimental effects of the mine include possible project expansion into its larger claim holding, compromised air quality from cyanide off-gassing and wind-borne waste rock material, reduction of American River in-stream flow for native, aquatic species by mine water use, diminished opportunities for public recreation, exercise of hunting, fishing, and gathering treaty rights, and associated economic and cultural benefits, and the cumulative mine impacts on a watershed degraded by profuse mining and logging. Please visit the BLM website,