could "Collaborative Conservation" work for copper mining?

We learned a few of new things today. One is that he Bureau of Land Management offers awards for:

Reclamation & Sustainable Mineral Development

.
Here's the Press Release describing the 2017 awards. Previous award winners can be found here: 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Another is that Montana is involved in contentious mining pollution issues, similar to Minnesota's never-ending battles over copper-nickel sulfide ore mining. After failures in two consecutive legislative sessions, Montanans for Responsible Mining are now pursuing an Initiative (I-186) to hold mining companies responsible for prevention and cleanup of mining pollution of Montana's waters. Montanans are already responsible for multiple millions of dollars of cleanup costs for old, abandoned mines whose owners are now bankrupt. These are the kinds of problems Minnesota is now trying to avoid.

The Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University was created to teach others:

How can we come together to solve our most pressing environmental challenges?

By transforming conservation into a force that unites and not divides.

...Conservation guided by local knowledge, community participation, and science to sustain both people and places.

The University of Montana offers a similar program at their Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy. (We suspect no one has invited them to assist with the resolution of issues and conflicts related to I-186, at least not yet.)

For some years now, the Tiffany & Co. Foundation has been awarding grants in support of responsible mining, including some to organizations in Colorado and Montana, and even one to a Minnesota environmental organization.

Although not directly related to mining, in Nevada the State of Nevada, the US Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management are working together to use the Nevada Collaboration Conservation Network (NCCN) to achieve effective conservation of sagebrush ecosystems in Nevada in conjunction with implementation of the sage-grouse plan amendments.

historic Stone Arch Bridge over the Mississippi River

Photo by J. Harrington

The National Park Service has a report on Scaling Up Collaborative Approaches to Large Landscape Conservation. It includes

The 54,000-acre Mississippi National River and  Recreation Area ... established by Congress in 1988. A true partnership park, the National Park Service owns very little land (64 acres) and works with 25 local governments, state agencies, and numerous organizations to protect the globally significant resources along the 72-mile stretch of river running through the Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, metro area.

should one watershed be protected and another not?

Photo by J. Harrington

There are additional resources and models that could be listed here. The point is, many of the warriors participants in Minnesota's "copper" mining battles have, at other times and in other places, participated actively in collaborative processes involving all the stakeholders to create innovative solutions that support economic development while protecting natural resource systems. Perhaps, rather than fighting issue by issue, mining proposal by mining proposal, site by site, impact by impact, Minnesota would be well served to at least try some version of collaborative conservation and responsible mining to establish a framework for where, and under what conditions, nonferrous mining should be allowed to explore and develop mineral resources in Minnesota. It might even offer a "New and improved" process for deciding about pipelines.

After Arguing Against The Contention That Art Must Come From Discontent

by Mary Oliver

Whispering to each handhold, "I'll be back,"
I go up the cliff in the dark. One place
I loosen a rock and listen a long time
till it hits, faint in the gulf, but the rush
of the torrent almost drowns it out, and the wind --
I almost forgot the wind: it tears at your side
or it waits and then buffets; you sag outward...

I remember they said it would be hard. I scramble
by luck into a little pocket out of
the wind and begin to beat on the stones
with my scratched numb hands, rocking back and forth
in silent laughter there in the dark--
"Made it again!" Oh how I love this climb!
-- the whispering to the stones, the drag, the weight
as your muscles crack and ease on, working
right. They are back there, discontent,
waiting to be driven forth. I pound
on the earth, riding the earth past the stars:
"Made it again! Made it again!" 

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.