A place we watch

Stillwater Mine Expansion (Custer Gallatin NF)

Timing

Nothing is open on this one today. It is a place the Corps keeps an eye on, so we see the paperwork the day it lands.

What is worth photographing here

Go to a bridge or public access on the Stillwater River just downstream of the existing waste rock and tailings storage. Shoot the water itself: clarity, streambed color, gravel bars, and any fish or rising trout.

Why we watch it

The Stillwater Mine on the Custer Gallatin National Forest, at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains, is the only primary source of palladium and platinum in the United States. Sibanye-Stillwater has proposed Amendment 14 to its plan of operations, expanding surface disturbance for waste rock and tailings storage as the current facility nears capacity.

How to record it so it counts

01Photograph the crossing from the road, then from upstream and from downstream.
02At a culvert, photograph the outlet from downstream so the drop from the pipe to the water shows. Put a pole or a person beside it for scale.
03Photograph the water: is it flowing, standing, or dry. Note the time.
04Photograph any fish, fish sign, or aquatic life you can see. Don’t enter the water to chase it.
05Write down what you saw and how the crossing looked to you.

What would count

The drop from the pipe to the water, with something for scale. A pipe left hanging above the water is one a fish cannot swim up, and that is a fact on its own.
Up and downstream, dated. Flow is the claim most often wrong.

All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide

Nothing to answer yet

Nobody is asking you to go here today. We watch this place so that the day a decision opens on it, the people who already know it hear the same week. If you are out here anyway, what you photograph now is worth more later than anything taken after the paperwork lands.

Before you go

Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.