Stop rare earth exploration at Sheep Creek in Bitterroot National Forest
Sheep Creek Rare Earth Exploration Proposal
U.S. Forest Service· Bitterroot National Forest, West Fork Ranger DistrictU.S. Forest Service project page ↗
Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Idaho
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Advocates for the West
Works Idaho: represented Western Watersheds Project in the Jarbidge grazing litigation, winning 2004 and 2005 NEPA rulings, a 2009 injunction that grazing-as-usual must end, and a 2011 order closing 17 allotments across the 625,000-acre resource area..
- Center for Biological Diversity
Works Idaho: plaintiff and co-counsel in the February 2025 lawsuit arguing federal wildlife agencies violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and wolverine from the mine..
- Idaho Conservation League
Works Idaho: mobilized Idahoans to file Interior Department comments defending Craters of the Moon during the 2017 national monument review, arguing shrinkage would damage the economies of Blaine, Butte, Minidoka, and Power counties..
- Western Watersheds Project
Works Idaho: has litigated BLM grazing mismanagement across 1.4 million acres of the Jarbidge and Bruneau river canyonlands since the early 2000s, winning injunctions against permit overruns and Ninth Circuit-affirmed orders requiring allotment assessments and stream protections..
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
US Critical Materials wants to explore for rare earth minerals in the Bitterroot's West Fork district.
What’s at risk
Sheep Creek and surrounding land in the West Fork Ranger District face potential disturbance from mineral exploration activity. The Forest Service is working with the company before formal environmental review even begins.
If this goes through
If the plan advances, US Critical Materials gains authorization to conduct exploratory operations in the Sheep Creek area of the Bitterroot National Forest.
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
In the agency’s own words
The Bitterroot National Forest received a draft initial plan of operations for the Sheep Creek Project from US Critical Materials (USCM). The Forest is working with USCM to gather additional information needed prior to moving into environmental analysis.
Did the agency answer?
5 issues are on this record. The agency has not published its decision document yet, so each one stays pending until the agency answers.
Issues on the record, awaiting the decision
- PendingThe notice contains no mention of Tribal consultation, despite the project being located on the Bitterroot National Forest in an area with documented cultural and treaty significance to the Salish and
The notice contains no mention of Tribal consultation, despite the project being located on the Bitterroot National Forest in an area with documented cultural and treaty significance to the Salish and Kootenai peoples and other tribes with historic ties to the region. Rare earth mineral exploration can disturb subsurface and surface resources of cultural importance. NEPA and NHPA Section 106 require that Tribal consultation be initiated early and documented. The agency should disclose what government-to-government consultation has occurred or is planned, and should not advance to any NEPA determination until that consultation is underway and its results are available for public review.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice acknowledges that the Forest is still 'working with USCM to gather additional information needed prior to moving into environmental analysis,' yet the project summary already lists a specif
The notice acknowledges that the Forest is still 'working with USCM to gather additional information needed prior to moving into environmental analysis,' yet the project summary already lists a specific CE pathway. Committing to a CE before the information-gathering phase is complete inverts the NEPA process: the agency is supposed to select its analysis type after it understands the project's scope and impacts, not before. The agency should suspend designation of any analysis type until the plan of operations is complete and disclosed to the public, and then make the analysis-type determination transparently.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice identifies the location only as 'Sheep Creek, West Fork District, Ravalli County, MT' and provides no map, no acreage, no coordinates, and no description of the surface disturbance footprin
The notice identifies the location only as 'Sheep Creek, West Fork District, Ravalli County, MT' and provides no map, no acreage, no coordinates, and no description of the surface disturbance footprint. Without this information, the public cannot assess proximity to streams, wilderness boundaries, roadless areas, or drinking-water sources. Rare earth exploration typically involves drill pads, access roads, and fluid handling, all of which carry site-specific risks. The agency should release the draft plan of operations -- including maps and disturbance acreage -- concurrent with any public comment period so the public can comment on actual project details.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice names US Critical Materials (USCM) as the proponent and states a draft initial plan of operations was received, but that document is not linked or described in the notice.
The notice names US Critical Materials (USCM) as the proponent and states a draft initial plan of operations was received, but that document is not linked or described in the notice. The public is directed to a third-party commercial platform (Pinyon Public) for project documents, and it is unclear whether the draft plan of operations is among them. Withholding or not clearly providing the foundational project description document prevents informed public comment. The agency should post the complete draft plan of operations on the official Forest Service project page and confirm the full document is publicly available before any NEPA analysis type is finalized.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe document states Forest Service Roads 75 through 711 are open while FSR 720 remains closed as of 9/15/26.
The document states Forest Service Roads 75 through 711 are open while FSR 720 remains closed as of 9/15/26.
The reporting behind this
From More Than Just ParksIt’s referred to as Unit 346 in the Twin Mountain II Timber Sale. On the ground, it’s some of the most spectacular old growth we’ve ever witnessed, and it’s marked for clearcutting.
To document and do our part to save America’s greatest old growth forest
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