Trout Unlimited officials are applauding a U.S. Forest Service decision that allows a silver mine in Southeast Alaska to expand while protecting sensitive fish habitat within Admiralty Island National Monument.
Tongass National Forest Supervisor Forrest Cole's decision this month allows Hecla Mining Co., operator of Greens Creek Mine, to expand its waste rock facility by about 18 acres to the south of the mine. The company can also develop another eight acres outside the monument's boundaries. That land will be used for a rock quarry, a storage site for reclaimed materials and an expanded pond to manage wastewater.
Hecla sought to expand the mine's waste rock area by another 116 acres within the national monument, which would have resulted in permanent loss of 1,646 feet of salmon habitat, Forest Service officials said.
Cole specified that no mine waste can be discharged into Tributary or Fowler creeks, which provide critical habitat for Dolly Varden char and coho salmon.
"We recognize that balancing the need for employment and resource extraction with the protection of important fish habitat is often difficult and complex, as it was in this case," said Mark Kaelke, protect director for Trout Unlimited in Southeast Alaska. His organization appreciated Cole's concern for Admiralty's critical fish habitat as well as his thoughtful and measured approach to the mine's expansion, he said.
The decisions will allow Greens Creek to continue generating waste rock for another decade. Without the Forest Service approval for expansion, the mine faced closure in 2019, the federal agency said.
This article originally appeared in The Cordova Times and is republished here with permission.