We’re back in court speaking up for the lands, waters, and wildlife of Eastern Idaho
High in the foothills of the Centennial Mountains, just north of the small town of Kilgore, Idaho, a foreign mining company is continuing its relentless quest for gold. Here, amid important grizzly habitat and at the headwaters of streams vital to downstream agriculture and communities, Excellon Resources has proposed a gold exploration campaign that could put water quality, wildlife, and the rural character of the area at risk.
Senior Idaho Conservation Associate Allison Michalski near the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project Site. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition and our partners at Idaho Conservation League (ICL) and Advocates for the West (Advocates) have been hard at work over the last three years holding Excellon Resources and the Forest Service accountable for understanding and mitigating the risk of destructive gold exploration to this ecologically sensitive area.
Today, GYC, ICL, and Advocates are back in court challenging the Forest Service over their most recent approval of the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project. This exploration project—and the potential for open-pit, cyanide heap-leach mining down the road—continue to present serious threats to the values that make this area special.
Colleagues from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Idaho Conservation League on the banks of the West Camas Creek, with the site of the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project in the background mountains. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)
Residents of Clark County and people across Idaho, including ranchers, farmers, hunters, anglers, and recreationists, are concerned about the future of the Kilgore area, the Centennial Mountains, and the water and wildlife resources that make these places so important. Despite serious concerns raised by GYC, ICL, and many Idahoans, the Forest Service approved the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project for a second time in November 2021. Our objections to the project remain much the same as they did in 2019, and center around the distinct and reckless lack of a ‘hard look’ at project’s impacts on water quality and fisheries. You can read GYC's press release announcing the most recent litigation here.
This is the second time GYC and ICL, represented by Advocates, are challenging the Caribou-Targhee National Forest’s approval of Excellon Resource’s Kilgore Gold Exploration Project in court. We challenged the Forest Service’s first approval of the project in 2019, and project approval was subsequently thrown out by a federal court in May 2020, because the court agreed with our concerns over project impacts on water quality and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. After releasing a second Environmental Impact Statement in 2021, the Forest Service again approved the project despite overwhelming opposition from the public and ongoing water quality and fisheries concerns.
The Kilgore Gold Exploration Project would affect crucial grizzly bear habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. (Photo © GoeddelGallery.com)
While we await a fresh response from the courts, you will find us out and about in Idaho raising awareness around the risks posed by the Kilgore Gold Exploration Project to wildlife, clean water, recreation heritage, and the way of life for thousands of Idahoans. GYC will continue to work with Clark County residents, Idahoans, agency officials, and our conservation partners to keep Kilgore the way it is.
To read more about the project history and join the growing coalition advocating to keep Kilgore clean, visit the Clean Kilgore Coalition’s website. Cyanide has no place here. Together, we can keep Kilgore’s water clean!
Do you have any stories, pictures, or videos that illustrate why Kilgore is special to you? Please share them with us. You can share with me directly at amichalski@greateryellowtone.org.
—Allison Michalski, Senior Idaho Conservation Associate
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is the land of 49+ Indigenous Tribes who maintain current and ancestral connections to the lands, waters, wildlife, plants, and more.
