GYC gathers over 3,000 comments against the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project

This February, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, and over 3,000 GYC supporters spoke out on behalf of the water and wildlife of eastern Idaho’s rugged and wild Centennial mountains. The area is home to sensitive species such as Grizzly bear, Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and Whitebark pine, and is currently under threat from the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project - destructive gold exploration activities spearheaded by Canadian-owned mining company, Excellon Resources.  

GYC’s Idaho Conservation Associate Allison Michalski hikes near the proposed Kilgore mine site. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)

The project site sits in the Centennial foothills just north of the tiny town of Kilgore, Idaho, and roughly 60 miles west of Yellowstone National Park. Gold exploration involves cutting miles of new roads, constructing drill pads, and drilling hundreds of exploratory drill holes across the proposed project site. It’s a loud, dusty, disruptive process that can impact water quality, wildlife movements, and recreation access for years. If successful, exploration will lead to a full-fledged mine proposal. The company has said they plan to build an open pit cyanide heap leach mine – a type of gold extraction so notorious for the destruction it causes that just a few miles north of Kilgore across the Montana border the practice is illegal.  

Unfortunately, the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the project left many impacts to water and wildlife unconsidered. So, in early February, our supporters came together to submit thousands of comments to the Forest Service asking the agency to conduct a far more thorough and complete environmental review before approving the project.  

We are incredibly grateful to the over 3,000 GYC supporters who joined us in speaking up for this rugged and vital landscape. Our work is possible because of you. 

What’s Next? 

Now that the comment period on the Draft EA has closed, the Forest Service will begin to review and respond to the comments submitted by the public. After that, they will develop a Final EA, on which they may or may not collect additional comments. (Rest assured we will let you know if they do.) Finally, the Forest Service will either issue a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Record of Decision (ROD) - effectively greenlighting the project - or they will determine that more information is needed and will begin to develop a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to more thoroughly understand impacts to the surrounding environment. Which is all to say that the ball is in the Forest Service’s court now.  

As the Forest Service moves forward with consideration of the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project, GYC and partners will continue to monitor the project for updates and build on the movement to protect the Centennial Range and Idaho’s public lands against threats like this and others. 

As a GYC supporter, make sure to keep an eye out for updates from us, so you can continue to play a meaningful role defending Greater Yellowstone’s waters and wildlife from the threat of destructive gold exploration and toxic gold mining.   

We appreciate you. 

-Allison Michalski, Idaho Conservation Associate