Surprise!

　
Spring is here, according to Alex. He came running to tell us the yellow “mountain”lion flowers are blooming!

Need a little explanation? We live in the foothills of the Black Hills. A mountain lion has been tracked (collared) toward the back of our property, so we are always cautious! Easy enough to confuse, those dandelions…

Wednesday was the first on-site inspection of the claim we are in the process of permitting. This visit was to visually inspect the property for unique or exceptional characteristics that need to be avoided while mining.

We were pleasantly surprised to see less snow on Iron Creek than we expected.  That was offset by intermittent rain and snow throughout the several hours on-site.  Luckily the party was prepared for weather and we were able to walk to areas of interest.

Life is full of surprises, and not always pleasant! The surprise in store was being informed that our project is indeed in a special, exceptional, critical or unique area… the Spearfish Creek Watershed.

First we’ll discuss that history and how it came about. South Dakota D.E.N.R. (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) website provides the following information: The South Dakota legislature in 1995 passed a bill to “ban new surface mining permits on private land from rim to rim in Spearfish Canyon. Legislature also passed a resolution that encourages the USFS to designate Spearfish Canyon as a Scenic Byway, which would effectively ban surface mining on federal land within the Canyon.” We were aware of this rim-to-rim mining ban, but were several miles from the rim of the canyon.

That action was followed by… “In November 1996, Lawrence County voters narrowly passed an initiated zoning ordinance that would effectively ban surface mining on 48,000 acres in the Spearfish Canyon watershed.” That was followed by, “A federal judge struck down the Lawrence County zoning ordinance banning surface mining in Spearfish Canyon watershed that was narrowly passed as an initiated measure by Lawrence County voters in November 1996." We were also aware of this, having voted on that initiative and seen the subsequent action.

Here is what we were not aware of… “The Board of Minerals and Environment in 1990 adopts special, exceptional, critical or unique land rules after two public hearings. Several areas have since been added to the preliminary list of special and unique lands following public hearings including Spearfish Canyon Watershed, Craven Canyon in Fall River County, and Danby Park/Bugtown Gulch near Custer.”
How does this impact us? It’s hard to say at this point. Our plan as submitted to D.E.N.R. and the U.S. Forest Service already addresses any issues that might arise. We had avoided any disturbance of Iron Creek, in fact have created a 50-foot buffer zone surrounding the creek. We are transporting water to and from the site and using an entirely self-contained system that will not create discharge. Erosion control, in the case of natural events such as a heavy rain, are addressed.

We want to emphasize here how much we care about that entire area. Both of us spent much of our childhood in the Spearfish Canyon and Iron Creek Lake area. One of the things we’ve discussed through the years as claimholders was the unsightly remains of historic mining left on our claim. We have no obligation to reclaim previous mining, but will reclaim as much as possible to a more “natural” landscape. Our intention is to leave this site more scenic than we found it! It is also our practice to clean up garbage (the historic garbage dump, the site of a recent road accident, clay pigeon debris from a recent target practice someone carried out from the road) and address noxious weeds when found.

We continue our quest for a mining permit… sometimes you have to work a little harder for something you really want.  The decision will be in the hands of the D.E.N.R. Board of Minerals and Environment.