The Blackfoot River is More Precious than Gold.
The Blackfoot River is a powerful, long-term economic engine of our communities. The Blackfoot River Business Coalition is built on the shared understanding that the health of the Blackfoot River far supersedes the value of gold mining.
Our businesses value the long-term health of the Blackfoot River, knowing that gold mining is a boom-and-bust operation with short term benefits to out of state corporations, and long-term detrimental effects on the local community and economy. We believe the Blackfoot River is more precious than gold.
We are not anti-mining in Montana.
We believe certain locations are simply inappropriate for mining.
Members of the coalition:
E Bar L Ranch
Grizzly Hackle Fly Shop, Missoula
Montana Guiding Company, Missoula
Montana River Shuttle Co
Spent Fly Fishing Products LLC, Missoula
Why We Care
For decades—and in some cases, for over a century—our communities and the families within them have labored to cultivate thriving businesses in the Blackfoot River Valley. Our economic vitality is inextricably linked to the integrity of our regional landscapes, world-renowned scenic beauty, and the pristine health of our watersheds and wildlife. To sustain our robust recreation-tourism economy, we must safeguard the irreplaceable natural assets that serve as our primary economic engine. Protecting our collective quality of life is essential to ensuring our community’s long-term financial security and stability.
Legacy of Failure
Across Montana, industrial gold extraction has left a legacy of failure. Speculative mining for luxury resources primarily benefits distant investors while leaving local citizens to bear the permanent burden. The resulting toxic leftovers—including acid rock drainage and hazardous heavy metals such as arsenic and lead—threaten to irreversibly contaminate our lands and vital water supplies.
Harm to Water Quality
In Montana, the alarming and deeply troubling frequency of tailings dam failures and tailings pond leaks presents a significant issue.
Big Changes for Small Towns
The small-town appeal, agricultural character, and exceptional quality of life across our communities would be permanently and irreversibly altered by this proposed mine and the boom-and-bust truck traffic and industrialization that will come with it. And the long-term consequences extend far beyond these local changes.
Private Property Rights and Common Sense
While we firmly support private property rights as business owners, a boundary must be drawn when one person's actions directly compromise or endanger the property rights of others, or the health of a watershed-centric economy.