Safeguarding bull trout habitat on the Jarbidge River
Newcrest mining staff touring highlighting road reclamation near the Jarbidge River in Nevada. Photo credit: Nick Kunath, IRU staff
Last week, Idaho Rivers United (IRU) staff joined our partner Idaho Conservation League (ICL), Forest Service representatives, and Nevada Department of Wildlife to tour a mine exploration site operated by Newcrest Mining Limited in the foothills outside of Jarbidge, NV.
BULL TROUT HABITAT
While IRU and ICL typically do not get involved in projects that fall outside of Idaho’s boundaries, this project was of particular interest to both groups due to the potential negative impacts that mining exploration could pose to the resident bull trout populations found within the project area. Additionally, these mining impacts could spread up north to Idaho and into the designated Wild & Scenic stretches of the Jarbidge and Bruneau Rivers. This particular population of bull trout happens to be the southernmost population in the lower 48 and is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Bull trout rely on clear, cold streams for habitat and productivity. Photo credit: Nick Kunath, IRU staff.
Mining companies and conservation organizations often struggle to find a workable balance between the rights interpreted from the mining laws that govern exploration on public lands and the concerns that these projects can pose significant risks to sensitive species or the health of our public lands and their board uses.
While these differing opinions have come to represent the general state of relationships between conservation groups and industry, this project proves that compromise is possible and we hope that this project can serve as a model moving forward.
THE PROPOSAL
Newcrest’s initial proposal was extremely broad, both in terms of time and location. The proposed Plan of Operations covered a 12-year timeline encompassing 24,000 acres of disturbance. In the initial assessment provided by the Forest Service, Newcrest had only identified its plans for Phase 1, which only covered the first three years of operations and only represented approximately 12% of the total surface disturbance and 2% of the total drill sites.
ICL, IRU, and the Idaho Chapter of the Sierra Club filed a formal objection to the project and through the objection resolution process were able to secure major environmental wins through the cooperation of the Forest Service and Newcrest. The resulting plan limited the scope of the exploration to Phase 1 of the initial proposal, representing a reduction of surface disturbance by 88%, and a 98% reduction in the number of drill sites. This process also resulted in an increase in water quality monitoring as well as stream turbidity in attempts to limit potential impacts to bull trout.
While Newcrest was moving forward with hopes to develop this site into an operational gold mine, the results from their initial drilling samples determined that the quality and quantity of gold were not economically viable for their company to continue with exploration. Newcrest has fully entered into the reclamation of the site. This was great news for bull trout and the concerns of our organizations, however, the threat will continue to remain until meaningful reform of the outdated 1872 mining law is codified.