GYC and supporters stop the mine on the northern border of Yellowstone National Park

Sep 30

After years of groundwork, months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, and the most urgent and ambitious fundraising campaign the Greater Yellowstone Coalition has ever undertaken, it feels incredible – if a little surreal – to announce this: we did it.

With the help of supporters close to home and across the globe — and the generosity of some amazing foundations — we extinguished the last viable gold mining threat along Yellowstone National Park’s border. Today, nearly 1,600 acres of vital wildlife habitat immediately north of Yellowstone is safe from the threat of industrial gold mining forever.

A panoramic view with Crevice Mountain in the foreground with pine trees and colorful aspens and Yellowstone National Park in the distance. This mine would have been visible from Roosevelt Arch and parts of the park itself. (Photo © William Campbell)

Crevice Mountain, which lies along the northern border of Yellowstone National Park and rises some 3,300 feet above the wild Yellowstone River, exemplifies much of what makes this region extraordinary. Its forested slopes provide vital habitat for many of Yellowstone's iconic wildlife, such as grizzly bears, wolves, and the famous Northern Range elk herd. From the top of Crevice Mountain, you can see much of the northern half of Yellowstone National Park, and, on a clear day, even the peaks of Grand Teton National Park on the horizon.

Until days ago, Crevice Mountain was also the site of a proposed gold mine. Visible from the Roosevelt Arch, the mine site and the lights, noise, and round-the-clock industrial activity would have degraded the wildlife habitat and threatened the water quality along the northern edge of Yellowstone and fundamentally altered the visitor experience for those entering the park through the town of Gardiner, Montana.

Camera traps at the proposed mine site captured images of grizzly bears, elk, mountain lions, foxes, and more. Now this landscape is forever protected from the threat of mining. (Photos/Videos © GYC)

Now, that is a future we do not have to imagine.

Just six days ago, on September 25, we officially hit our fundraising target. The campaign, which was launched publicly in May, came after GYC reached an agreement with Crevice Mining Group, LLC, to purchase the mineral rights, leases, and claims to 1,598 acres of land on Crevice Mountain. Through negotiations with the mining company, GYC created a win-win solution to stop the mine that allowed the company to walk away from the project and the lands to be forever protected from industrial development.

With the fundraising campaign successfully completed, GYC closed on the deal with Crevice Mining Group and took ownership of the company’s assets — effectively killing the mine before it could start.

(L-R) GYC’s Executive Director Scott Christensen, Director of Development Melissa Richey, and former Senior Montana Conservation Associate Joe Josephson celebrate successfully raising the $6.25 million to stop the mine at an event on September 30, 2023. They each received a pickaxe from the GYC board engraved with “NOT ON MY WATCH” to honor their contributions to the campaign. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)

Next, GYC is working with willing landowners to secure some of the remaining private in-holdings on Crevice Mountain using money from the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The lands and mineral rights will then be transferred to the Custer Gallatin National Forest — creating new public land that is permanently protected under the mineral withdrawal enacted by the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.

This victory would not have been possible without the generosity of GYC supporters and philanthropic foundations. By the end of the six-month fundraising campaign, GYC had received 1,345 gifts from individual donors in 47 states and seven countries.

The project also received financial support from many private foundations committed to conservation, including The Kendeda Fund, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Wyss Foundation, the Cornell Douglas Foundation, the Ricketts Conservation Foundation, and the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, which provided a challenge matching grant that helped us reach our goal.

A bird’s eye view of the Crevice Mountain with Yellowstone National Park in the distance. The success of this campaign proves that this is no place for a gold mine. (Video © William Campbell)

Protecting the extraordinary Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from mining threats has long been a top priority for GYC, and our history of hard-won successes fighting mines and advancing protective policies is a testament to our commitment to this work. Rarely is there an opportunity to amicably eliminate the threat of a mine before any damage has been done, making our win on Crevice Mountain an even sweeter success.

We’ve long said that Yellowstone is more valuable than gold. This campaign, along with decades of previous work to protect Greater Yellowstone from destructive mines, proves that.

From all of us at GYC, thank you for your steadfast support and love for this wild, remarkable ecosystem.