‘Butte’s river’ to be focus of Thursday DEQ presentation

The cleanup crews, for posterity, left a stark reminder of the mining pollution that once choked the life out of Silver Bow Creek.

The agencies that tackled the remediation of Silver Bow Creek between 1999 and 2015 opted to leave one small section of floodplain untouched to give a sense of what the creek was like before cleanup. This photo was taken Sunday. The remediated creek flows nearby through lush riparian vegetation favored by songbirds. 

Duncan Adams, The Montana Standard

A display of the ghastly consequences for the creek and its floodplain is a short walk from a rejuvenated Silver Bow Creek near the Anaconda rest stop off Montana Highway 1.

A visitor to the exhibit encounters stunted, skeletal willows, bone-white slickens, rotting railroad ties and more, providing a sampling of what prevailed before remediation. 

In 1982, EPA proposed adding Silver Bow Creek to its National Priority List of significantly polluted sites. It was listed as a Superfund site in 1983.

Beginning in 1999, state agencies involved in Silver Bow Creek’s ambitious remediation and rejuvenation spent about 16 years and more than $130

View Source