Guest column: Yellowstone will always be more valuable than gold

This piece was originally published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

One summer evening in my late teens, a group of friends and I found ourselves leaving Yellowstone’s north entrance in search of a place to camp for the night. Despite having an epic week of backpacking planned in my favorite place on Earth, we’d arrived too late in the day to snag a backcountry permit, so now we were scrambling to find a place to sleep before our early morning start.

Thinking back now, the moment feels fateful. Our permit snafu led us to the foot of a massive dome-shaped mountain right along the Yellowstone boundary. From our campsite, we had stunning views of Electric Peak and the expansive northwest corner of Yellowstone. The evening light on the hills below us illuminated hundreds of elk and pronghorn emerging from their daytime hideouts. Just down slope, the Yellowstone River glimmered between canyon walls. It was idyllic.

I couldn’t have known then that 25 years later the mountain on which we were camped — Crevice Mountain — would be at the center of a massive effort to protect Yellowstone, its wildlife, and namesake river.

Cloaked in conifer forests and rich with wildlife, Crevice Mountain exemplifies what is extraordinary about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The area provides vital habitat for wolves and grizzlies, is a critical migration corridor for elk, and is one of the few designated places outside the park where Yellowstone bison can roam.

Today, the organization I work for — the Greater Yellowstone Coalition — is leading an urgent campaign to save Crevice Mountain from a destructive gold mine.

Fights over gold on Yellowstone’s border are, sadly, not new. The subterranean forces that shaped the park’s awe-inspiring geology also created pockets of valuable minerals across the region.

For more than a decade, Crevice Mining Group has been preparing to develop a gold mine on the border of Yellowstone. Without intervention the company intends to move forward, drastically changing the landscape forever.

GYC has a history of hard-won victories protecting Yellowstone from destructive gold mines. Back in the 1990s, the organization helped stop the proposed New World Mine near Cooke City. In 2019, as part of a coalition of partners, we worked to pass the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, which protects 30,370 acres of public land north of the park from mining. Both campaigns ran under the slogan, “Yellowstone is more valuable than gold.”

That slogan remains a touchstone. The work isn’t over, but a major milestone is in sight. After more than a year of behind-the-scenes negotiations, GYC signed an agreement with Crevice Mining Group that provides a window of opportunity to purchase the company’s mineral rights, leases, and claims to 1,368 acres of land on Crevice Mountain by Oct. 1, for $6.25 million. The purchase will end the threat of mining on Yellowstone’s boundary forever.

As Oct. 1 draws nearer, I’ll admit to losing more than a few nights of sleep. That long-ago summer evening camped at the base of Crevice has never been far from my mind. Today, I have kids the age I was then — and I want the same kinds of experiences for them. But when worry creeps in, gratitude is never far behind. The outpouring of local support for this campaign has been tremendous. Scores of you have sent donations, emailed us well-wishes, shared your own stories from Crevice, and, wholeheartedly, you’ve spread the word. We’ve received donations from 47 states (if you know anyone in Arkansas, Louisiana, or Mississippi, send ‘em our way!), support from some incredible foundations, and contributions from hundreds of first-time donors moved by this effort.

Now, we’re just $800,000 from that $6.25 million goal. And because the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation has generously agreed to match up to $500,000 in donations during this last push, we actually only need to raise $400,000 more to end the threat of mining along Yellowstone’s boundary, forever.

I can’t wait to celebrate with you when we do.

—Scott Christensen, Executive Director