In the Fall of 2019, several One Stone learners dove deep into Idaho’s complex history with the mining industry. During the What’s Mine is Ours immersion, they visited the Yellow Pine Stibnite Mine, an abandoned pit mine in central Idaho which the Midas Gold company plans to reopen. The experience also included conversations with the Idaho Conservation League and an art show at Ming Studio in Boise, in which students displayed pieces reflecting their overall experience. Here, Opal A. shares her insights about this immersion and how deeply it impacted her.
By Opal A., One Stone
This year, a group of students and I had the unusual opportunity to go out in the world during school hours and learn about the environmental injustices going on in our own backyard. With the help of our fearless coaches Allison Fowle and Teal Gardner, we set off on a journey to investigate the controversies behind the proposed re-opening of the Stibnite Gold Mine just outside of a tiny town in central Idaho called Yellow Pine.
We were fortunate enough to visit the site of the proposed mine ourselves, talk to Midas Gold representatives, interview locals of the town, talk with a journalist covering the topic in Cascade, talk with the Idaho Conservation League about their standpoint on the issue, and to visit McCall to hear the perspective of a man from the Nez Perce Tribe. This was not a traditional “course” where we stayed in a classroom all day learning about mines. This was an interactive, in-depth, out-of-the-classroom learning experience – an immersion.
Opal, center, shares her thoughts during a meeting at the Idaho Conservation League headquarters in Boise. What’s Mine is Ours immersion participants were invited to lunch at ICL to discuss their experience at the Stibnite Mine and the environmental impacts it may have.
I went into this 4-week immersion knowing close to nothing about mining’s impacts on its surrounding ecosystem, long term effects, Idaho’s mining history, how gold mining works, or why it’s such a controversial issue right now. Although it took time, I now have a concrete understanding of how mining works and why it is such a big deal to so many people. When dealing with extracting billions of dollars worth of gold out of a mountain, it’s not an easy task. It takes lots of planning, permits, and debates. We learned that the surrounding ecosystem, unsurprisingly, cannot thrive with a 1,991 acre gold mine at its headwaters. There are endless opportunities for human error. This could lead to the extinction of many native fish to Idaho like salmon and steelhead. With this level of impact and complexity, people care for different reasons which has caused this to be a very difficult decision to make.
By practicing empathy, I now am able to understand that both arguments for and against the mine are very convincing and have a lot of history backing them up. I was challenged by trying my hardest not to let my own personal biases influence hearing from each person. This is an experience I will never forget because it felt valuable and relevant to our world today. I will never look at large scale mining in the same way and I know my peers were impacted similarly.
Many of us, myself included, are carrying this knowledge with us to create change on a state level by taking action and getting involved with groups like the Idaho Conservation League. I now understand that my voice matters in our state and there are many opportunities available for me to share my thoughts on controversial issues like this one.
Thanks to Opal for sharing her perspective on the What’s Mine is Ours immersion.
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