NEWS RELEASE
USDA Forest Service
Alaska Region
Contact: Ray Massey Work (907) 586-7876
rmassey@xxxxxxxxx Cell (907) 209-2094
Date: July 7, 2009
USDA FOREST SERVICE ANNOUNCES ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROJECTS TO REHABILITATE ABANDONED MINES ON CHUGACH AND TONGASS NF
Juneau, Alaska- Regional Forester Denny Bschor today released the details of two abandoned mine site cleanups funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These cleanups will cost $1.4 million each and will address safety hazards and environmental damage caused by abandoned mines. Nationally, the Forest Service will fund projects in six states for a total of $19.88 million.
“These projects will provide for public health and safety as we mitigate the many hazards associated with abandoned mines,” said USDA Secretary Vilsack last week. “The cleanup of the mines, located in watershed areas, will also improve water quality and help to restore natural resources in areas devastated by mining activities done prior to today’s strict regulations.”
“We will be rehabilitating Resurrection Creek near Hope on the Kenai Peninsula where past mining operations straightened the creek and left it as a two-mile gravel pile,” said Bschor, “The Salt Chuck Mine cleanup, near the village of Kassan on eastern Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, will provide a healthier area to gather subsistence materials and recreate.”
According to Bschor, previous Forest Service work on Resurrection Creek with partner, Youth Restoration Corps, turned a portion of the drainages gravel piles into a productive riperian area which attracted increased salmon numbers within a year. The Salt Chuck Mine poses an exposure risk by locals to heavy metal and organic contaminates within the soil and tailings adjacent to tidelands and are a risk to people recreating, or gathering materials and foods for subsistence living.
The Forest Service is responsible for rehabilitating abandoned mines and landfills. National forests are sources of minerals for commercial use and include private mining claims. While current mining activities occur under carefully regulated permits requiring restoration, there is a legacy of devastated landscapes from intensive surface and subsurface mining that took place prior to strict regulations. These abandoned mines and landfills are public safety hazards, and are sometimes contaminated. These areas have severely impacted the vegetation, water quality resulting in severely degraded terrestrial and aquatic communities.
Projects to be implemented under ARRA help the Forest Service to more quickly restore former mines and landfills by removing contaminated soil and debris from ground surfaces, streams and other water bodies. Contractors and workers will bring in clean soils and will replant native vegetation. They will restore streams to their original channels. Mine openings will be gated and signs posted to prevent public entry while allowing movement of bats and other animals that use mines as habitat.
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Editors Note: Details of each cleanup are listed below-
Salt Chuck Mine Soil and Tailings Clean Up
Estimated Funding: $ 1,400,000
Partner: Organized Village of Kassan
Area: Prince of Wales Island
The Salt Chuck Mine is an abandoned and contaminated mine and mill located on the Tongass National Forest and on adjacent State of Alaska tidelands. The site is easily accessible and, as such, is a health and safety threat to the public and to the environment. There is strong local Tribal, EPA, and State interest in a cleanup here. Ending human and ecological exposure to heavy metal and organic contaminates within the soil and tailings will improve recreation, commercial user opportunities, and Tribal and citizens efforts to subsist from the land and streams - critical for residents in rural villages. Project work will include cleanup design, physical cleanup of metal and organic contaminated materials, and site restoration. The project will provide jobs to an area with high unemployment. Additional indirect jobs will result from long-term site monitoring and support industries.
Resurrection Creek Watershed Restoration
Estimated Funding: $ 1,400,000
Partner: Youth Restoration Corps
Area: Kenai Peninsula
Historic placer gold mining has harmed Resurrection Creek, near the town of Hope, Alaska. The mining left large tailing piles along the stream banks and straightened the stream channel. These actions cut off historic floodplains and left poor conditions for fish to live. This two-year restoration project will include full channel reconstruction of a two-mile stretch of Resurrection Creek. It will restore 75 acres of floodplain and create a new meandering channel with fish habitat features including pools, logjams, and side channels. A partnership with Youth Restoration Corps, a long-time partner of the Forest Service, will provide a workforce to plant shrubs and grasses along the restored floodplains and stream banks following restoration. The Chugach National Forest has already completed similar restoration work on other sections of Resurrection Creek, with great success. This project will improve hydrologic function, water quality, riparian health, and habitat for fish and wildlife, while protecting the stream corridor from future impacts.
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