11 Most Endangered
Sweetgrass Hills
Year Listed: 1993
Location: Montana
Current Status: Saved
Threat: Development, Poor Public Policy
Encompassing thousands of acres of sweeping grassland and rocky ridges dominated by three mountain buttes, Sweetgrass Hills continues to be a spiritual place for ceremonies and retreats for the Blackfeet, Chippewa-Cree, Gros Ventre, Salish, Kootenai and Assiniboine tribes. But in the early 90s, Canadian mining interests applied for permission under the 1872 Mining Act to explore the area, build roads, dig trenches and conduct test drilling which could lead to open pit mining and thus severe damage to the site. Several preservation groups have organized to save this land from exploitative mining and stop possible pollution of major water sources reflect the need to reform the outdated mining law.
Update
When a Canadian Mining Company proposed a cyanide heap leach gold mine for the Sweet Grass Hills—a sacred site to five Montana Tribes—the National Trust joined area ranchers, preservationists, and the Tribes in protest. With the support from Montana Congressman Pat Williams, the coalition successfully argued that the mining company had not demonstrated that they had a commercially viable deposit in the Sweet Grass Hills allowing the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw the mineral leases and protect the area from mining.
