Snowbird Ski Resort tidies up another old Mine
Following on the heels of its award-winning efforts with the Pacific Mine, Snowbird ski resort in Utah is continuing to improve local environmental conditions and water quality by embarking on a second mine restoration project in American Fork Canyon.
With assistance from Trout Unlimited (TU), Snowbird is redirecting water from the Live Yankee Mine in Mary Ellen Gulch away from its current path over contaminated mine waste. This redirection helps ensure that the water quality in the stream will meet Clean Water standards and provide a healthy environment for the occupants of the mountain streams of American Folk Canyon. Snowbird’s efforts are supported by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the Forest Service. The project will be completed during this week, August 25th to 29th.
“The Live Yankee Mine project is a natural extension of Snowbird’s desire to protect and improve our local environment,” said Snowbird President Bob Bonar. “We are proud to have helped lead the way in demonstrating how the ski industry can tackle the challenges of abandoned mines.”
Currently, potentially lethal heavy metals are leaching from the Live Yankee Mine waste piles and being carried to the stream in Mary Ellen Gulch. The water from the mine contains 10 times the metal content acceptable by US Clean Water standards and is killing almost all the water insects that are crucial to the survival of fish downstream. The plan to redirect this water around the mine waste through conduits was deemed the most environmental and economically feasible solution considering the remoteness of Mary Ellen Gulch, an area adjacent to Snowbird’s Mineral Basin. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that more than 500,000 abandoned mine sites litter the western landscape, affecting 16,000 miles of streams.
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