Though oil and gas developers have long had their
eyes on the vast reserves that geologists say lie beneath Montana’s
rugged Rocky Mountain Front, environmental concerns have held most
of them at bay. Now, a more immediate threat looms over the area.
Wyoming businessman Mark Alldredge has filed 104
mining claims over 3.4 square miles of land between the Bob
Marshall Wilderness and Montana’s Blackleaf Wildlife Management
Area. Alldredge won’t say what he’s looking for, but federal
officials believe it may be diamonds. Miners discovered
industrial-grade diamonds at a similar site near Hinton, Alberta,
in Canada.
A mine would disrupt a major elk
migratory route, environmentalists warn, and drive endangered
grizzly bears from the area. But these concerns may play second
fiddle to the 1872 Mining Law: Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont., who has
unsuccessfully pushed to protect the area from development in a
series of wilderness bills, says, “The brutal fact is that if the
developer can demonstrate any mineral discovery, the land becomes
his.”
* Mark
Matthews
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline All is not quiet on the Front.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
