A new land order ensures the protection of a tremendous amount of land near Malta.
Gina Baltrusch the public affairs specialist for BLM North central Montana district explains the land order.
“A public land order was issued to protect more than 900 additional acres of the Zortman-Landusky Mine reclamation area. The withdraw to the reclamation area will prevent new mining activities and disturbance of the public lands for 20 years to provide time to assess and monitor the effectiveness of ongoing reclamation activities.”-Gina Baltrusch
Gina continues to explain the history regarding this land order.
“This area of the Little Rocky Mountains has a long history of mineral explorations, development, and production within a landscape that has long been an area of high cultural and religious importance for the local tribes. The Little Rocky Mountains were designated as a traditional cultural property in 1995 through extensive consultation with multiple native American tribes and the Montana state historic preservation office. Historic mining practices consisted of intermittent exploration for placer gold in and around the withdrawal area that began sometime in the 1860s. Placer mining continued until underground load mines were developed in the early 1900s followed by open pit mining in 1979. The open pit mining stopped in 1998 and through the coordination of BLM, the Montana department of Enviornmental Quality, EPA, and the Fort Belknap Indian Community reclamation of public lands including water treatment and monitoring has been conducted under BLM delegated circle authority since 2004”-Gina Baltrusch
