mpacts to the Milk and Missouri River 

 Drainages 



The Landusky mine is the headwaters area for King Creek and Swift Gulch, which 

 drain to the northwest through the Fort Belknap Reservation as tributaries to Little 

 Peoples Creek and on to the Milk River. The Landusky mine is also the headwaters 

 area for Montana Gulch, Mill Gulch, and Sullivan Gulch--tributaries of Rock Creek, 

 which flows south to the Missouri River. All of these streams are intermittent near the 

 mine site. Perennial segments of Rock Creek and Little Peoples Creek several miles 

 downstream of the mine support small brook trout populations. 



The Zortman mine is a headwaters area for Lodgepole Creek, which drains north 

 through the Fort Belknap Reservation and on to the Milk River, and for Ruby Gulch and 

 Alder Gulch, which drain south to the Missouri River (Figure 3). Lodgepole Creek is 

 intermittent near the mine, but it flows perennially in its lower reaches and supports 

 a brook trout population several miles north of the Zortman mine. Ruby Gulch and 

 Alder Gulch are intermittent streams, but they may have significant flows following 

 storm events or during spring runoff. ^^ 



The Milk River is an estimated 30-35 air miles from the Zortman and Landusky mines 

 and further by stream miles along Little Peoples Creek and Lodgepole Creek. The 

 Missouri River is an estimated 20-25 air miles from the mines and further by stream 

 miles along Rock Creek and Ruby Gulch. The agencies have not developed any 

 sampling data on the Missouri or Milk Rivers in the vicinity of the mines to indicate 

 whether they have been impacted by the mining activity at Zortman and Landusky. 

 The DEQ, the BLM, and their consultants consider both rivers to be far beyond the 

 area that is potentially influenced by the mines, and according to the BLM, monitoring 

 data does not show contamination that extends beyond the Little Rocky Mountains 

 landform." 



The agencies have been following a sampling and monitoring plan in the Consent 

 Decree. A more recent long-term water monitoring program was developed in 2002 by 

 technical specialists from the agencies, the EPA, and the Tribes in anticipation of the 

 issuance of MPDES permits, but that plan has not been implemented nor have the 

 permits been issued." Water monitoring is concentrated in the immediate area of the 

 mines in areas most likely to be impacted. There are a few sampling stations 

 approximately 2 miles from the mines, but they are no longer used. 



