Area near mine to be maintained for wildlife habitat

By JOHN O'CONNELL

Capital Press

SODA SPRINGS, Idaho -- Monsanto Co. has given up development rights to 120 acres of key wildlife habitat to compensate for lost hunting opportunities on public land where its Blackfoot Bridge Mine is under construction.

Under the terms of a deal that closed Feb. 9 with the Bureau of Land Management and Eastern Idaho's Sage Brush Steppe Regional Land Trust, Monsanto will retain ownership of the property, which serves as mule deer winter range in the hills a few miles northwest of Soda Springs.

The property has been used for cattle grazing in the past, and Monsanto has leased some of it more recently as horse pasture. The company will still be allowed to lease the land for limited livestock grazing.

Monsanto spokesman Trent Clark said the land, which borders other BLM land, has seen pressure from residential development. The BLM will hold the development rights in perpetuity, with the land trust providing annual inspections.

"The BLM has been working really hard to protect winter range in the Soda hills," said Joselin Matkins, executive director of the land trust, adding the property includes south-facing slopes where mule deer can find forage in March and April, when most other locations are still covered by snow.

Due to the proximity to homes, Clark said it's uncertain if hunting will be allowed on the parcel.

"The important thing is habitat for game animals is now going to be preserved," Clark said.

Monsanto acquired the property as part of a larger parcel it purchased for quarrying reserves of quartzite. Silica from quartzite is required for the chemical reaction Monsanto uses to make elemental phosphorus at its Soda Springs plant. Elemental phosphorus is used to produce Monsanto's popular Roundup Herbicide. The 120-acre parcel was devoid of quartzite deposits, Clark added.

The Blackfoot Bridge Mine will cover 790 acres 8 miles northeast of Soda Springs, including 80 acres of BLM property. Construction of the water management system that will encircle the mine, keeping waste water from reaching the Blackfoot River, is already underway. The elaborate system was included in the phosphate mine's environmental impact statement as a precaution because the river is listed as impaired for selenium contamination.

Clark said the company hopes to start producing ore at the mine by the summer of 2013.