Into The Heart of Darkness

Clifton

Our world is a crazy one.  Some parts are preserved well while others are left to fall apart. On a journey that would leave me with dark thoughts about mining, I struggled for one week to organize my thoughts and write this post.  I also struggled to find the art from it all.  Sometimes photography is about being uncomfortable with the observation.  This post today serves 2 purposes which I'll cover in just a moment.

The Morenci Mines

Arizona is a world of its own.  In many ways, I am thankful for the birding trips to the odd and bizarre because it allows me to see our state as a whole.  On this day, both Kathie and myself would head to Greenlee County.  We went because there hadn't been any bird counts in this region and I quickly understood why.  Greenlee county is a long and narrow one that runs along the New Mexico border.  It is full of breathtaking mountain ranges covered in forest.  Once again, it's home to some rare finds in Arizona which include Magpies!

Roper Lake State Park

We began our studies at Roper Lake Park in Cochise county.  A really lovely park full of cabins and water!  On this day, the Common Merganser would fill the lake with numbers over 150!  Kathie counted.  And I took in all the beautiful landscape locating birds for her to count:)  This took up much of our morning but we knew we had to get to Greenlee County to record data. And so the Las Aventuras and Kathie's Birds team went where most people avoid.....into the Heart of Darkness.

Female Great-tail Grackle

We entered Greenlee County and became excited finding our first birds.....2 Common Ravens!  The first Ebird count for the 2013 year! And then things went south once we entered the mining towns of Clifton and its sister city Morenci.  I became angry and upset because we are facing a mine opening up in the near future on our beautiful Santa Rita mountains.  The people have been fighting to keep this mine out and away from this pristine mountain range.  Pima County environmental officials rejected the proposal on this mine and the state of Arizona(run by Jan Brewer) didn't like Pima County's decision. The State Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rosemont.   So they are giving this Canadian based company another opportunity to open their mine on these mountains.  As of last week, they are one permit away from opening.  What this tells me is that the people have no voice whatsoever and money, like always, speaks.  A mining company will promise the moon and the stars to a community. And then decades later, they'll leave you in a wasteland of human scrap destroying all the natural wonders that this world continues to lose daily.  All people have to do is go to Clifton or Morenci to witness what mining has done to the landscape and wildlife(or lack of!).  Even closer are the mines near Green Valley and Globe!  It's truly an eye stain!

After these pics were released on my Facebook page, a friend came up to me and said that she had been raised in this community as a child. The town is run and owned by the mining company.  You could feel and see the social changes once we entered into this broken down part of the world.  Many of the old homes abandoned.  And some of these decaying buildings were actually used!  I remember seeing a boarded up building that had plywood pulled away from the window which led me to believe vagrants lived in these places.

We went to do a count at one spot in the Morenci area and for the first time in my Ebird experience, we could not find any birds!  It was disheartening.  The place had trees and rock......but there was nothing!  I searched my best to prove to Kathie that there was a least one bird hiding.  Not a peep.  And for this report, a sad "0" was entered into our bird counts.  If most of us just stood still, we'd see or hear something(pigeons count:)  But at this site.....nothing.  And that was sad.

I suppose the town would be a photographer's dream but all the images made me very angry.  Let's just rip this entire world apart and destroy it!  There is a line that should not be crossed and these mines prove that point.  If a mine goes into the Santa Rita mountains, endemic species face yet another human threat. Water quality?  If I were a resident near these mines, I'd be very concerned.  Here is the link about what's going on in the Tucson/Green Valley area. Believe me, people are fighting against this mine opening.  It will affect those who come and enjoy the beautiful Arizona landscape from around the world.  It will destroy what Southern Arizona is best known for......an amazing diversity of birds and wildlife!

I detached my emotions from the ecological disaster and the harsh chemically stained landscape to examine the people.  My fb friend told me that it was a very different life growing up in a mining town.  The mine had indeed grown since she last visited this area.  I would have liked to spend a night in this town just to study the culture and speak to several people about living in this isolated area.  We will be going back here again for more work and study.  There are places we didn't have a chance to visit and would like to see next time.

Rock Wren at Roper Lake

Here is a link to a post I wrote last year titled, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas!  They are only 1 permit away from getting started and if it passes, a lot of people will be saddened by the news.

Imagine looking at this mountain range below with a mining scar on it.  Now imagine the life that lives on those lands and you can see why many people are upset about about a mine opening up.  We headed back home this day with heavy thoughts.   

The Pinaleño Mountains

Harbingers of Death

Turkey Vulture

Ugly!  Awesome!  Finally!  These were the words that came to my mind as I found these incredible scavengers near Montosa Canyon.  I had been waiting for an opportunity like this for quite awhile.

It helped being the only one in Montosa Canyon early in the morning.  Now look at these views.  Southern Arizona is pretty amazing.  The birds quickly flew off, but what were they gathered around?

Harbinger-anything that foreshadows a future event. An omen or sign.  What was this that made 5 Turkey Vultures come together?

For many, this may seem like an ugly bird, but might I suggest you watch this incredible scavenger fly.  It's the most beautiful thing in the world.  Close your eyes if you don't want to see what it was they were eating.

Now while this deer doesn't look very appetizing to us, it makes for a great meal for lots of wildlife around the area.

"Gorgeous!" is all that I could say to myself during the photo shoot on this cloudy morning. Those are mines in the background.  A human stain on the landscape?  Santa Rita residents are fighting  the Rosemont company who want to add some jobs to our weak economy.  They promise that they won't do any damage whatsoever to Mother Nature or that any damage done will be very minimal. Should we believe them?  After seeing other companies around the world who have claimed the same things, you all could say that I have my doubts.  But let's stick to nature(while it's still around).

Look at this.  I still smile at the incredible wingspan of this bird.  It can reach 6 feet!  That's one of me!

Their faces might remind me of the Skeksis from the Dark Crystal, but it's still a great bird to have around our area.  So much more in store for you all.  Some wonderful surprises have come my way during early morning hunts.  I hope you'll enjoy the critters as much as I have.  Summer may be hot, but the rain brings everyone out for a drink in the desert.  More tomorrow...

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas!

The battle for the Santa Rita mountains has only just begun(even though it has been going on for awhile!).  The Rosemont mining company has had their eyes now on this area for quite some time.  Many local residents oppose any type of mining in the area. Here is the story on this very hot debate...

Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.Pic taken by Tim Vanderpool.

Rosemont Mines, with great determination, wants an area of the Santa Rita mountains for mining.  They have been buttering up people around the communities of Tucson, Green Valley and other areas using commercial ads on TV and Radio, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  It wasn't so much the message as it was the shady meaning behind it.  They would have some people believing that they were already approved to mine in the area and that it was a done deal.

Tom Purdon, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas. Pic by Mamta Popat for Arizona Daily Star

But the locals in the proposed mining area aren't buying into any of it at all.   A petition has gone out to stop Rosemont from destroying the land around the mountain area.  I'm a bit bias because I've seen what the mining industry has done to our landscape.  If you look at Green Valley from Tucson, you'll notice that one of the mountains has a large white scar on its side.  You can't miss it and it bothers me everytime I drive around town. If you head towards Globe, mining stains the hillsides for miles and miles.  There is a reason why residents are furious about mining here.  Many have retired in this area because it's beautiful.  I signed the petition for them because I don't want to see anymore human markings on the desert landscape.

 Pic by David Sanders/Arizona Daily StarMike Varney, president and CEO of Tucson Metro Chamber

Supporters for the Save the Scenic Santa Ritas have been present at our major Tucson and local area events like the 4th Avenue St Fair or the Pecan Festival in Green Valley.  It was here that I had a long conversation with a lovely retired lady who is facing the destruction of her own backyard.  It is not difficult to understand why a mining company would want to use the area because it will be profitable in the short term.  But in the long run, the damage done will be insurmountable to the short term benefits.  Human greed and arrogance will be the destruction of us all.  If mining didn't have ecological consequences, then I'd be all for them moving forward, but this isn't any different than several leaders in Washington wanting to put a pipeline up to Alaska thru Canada for more drilling.  It's all the same thing. These fragile and necessary ecosystems must remain untouched or the natural balance of things will be thrown off. 

A panel is in order currently analyzing all the data. The following interviews were done by the Arizona Daily Star by Tony Davis.
Q&A With Tom Purdon of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas:
Q. How many panels will your group convene and who will be on them?
A. We have divided into 12 subcommittees, dealing with topics such as water, pollution, transportation, public health and safety. We have six to eight people on each subcommittee, and about half of them are trained scientists or professionals working in the fields their subcommittee is dealing with. For instance, I'm on the public-health committee, where we have a recently retired academic, a scientist, a geochemist, a retired State Department and EPA scientist and a couple of MDs practicing clinical medicine like myself.
Q. What will your subcommittees be looking for?
A. We will be looking for problems with the mine that are not adequately addressed in the draft. We don't think that some of the modeling Rosemont has done is adequate. We will put together all the reports into a response from our larger group and submit it to the Forest Service. (Coronado National Forest Supervisor) Jim Upchurch made the point about trying to be specific in how this mine is approached, and that's what we're trying to do.
Q. What do you hope this will accomplish?
A. At the end of the process, we're going to see whether or not the Forest Service and the people they report to think we have called attention to significant problems, and we will hope that they will go back to Rosemont and say these problems are significant and need fixing. We would hope that it would end up with the "no action" alternative being picked or that they'll have so many problems it won't fit into their business model to fix them. I can see Rosemont being irritated if they feel they are being asked for too much mitigation.
Q. Your group has already said it finds none of the mining alternatives for Rosemont acceptable and that no amount of mitigation could compensate for the damage you believe the mine will do. Will such an absolutist stance now hurt the credibility of what your panels end up saying?
A. That's a tough one to answer. I think we have sensed that there are so many things wrong with that mine in that place, that we believe our analysis and our answers to the draft will provide credible information, enough for the Forest Service to require extensive mitigation - that Rosemont may or may not agree to or may or may not be able to meet. This will be the first time that we put our scientific evidence forward.
Q&A With Mike Varney of the Tucson Metro Chamber:
Q. What will the chamber be doing in the next few months regarding Rosemont?
A. We're going to want to make sure this economic development opportunity unfolds according to the terms, conditions and regulations that cover it. When we see a company prepared to invest millions and millions, create 400 direct jobs and 1,600 indirectly and make a $9 billion local impact, we want to do everything we can to welcome them. But our perspective is that there are rules and regulations and Rosemont Copper has to play by them. If they do, we expect they'll go into business without needless delays and challenges or lawsuits.
Q. What do you think of these panels that Save the Scenic Santa Ritas is organizing?
A. They are well within their rights to go find that independent counsel. You can go to a trial and each side has its panel of experts. They find people who can sway the statistics one way or another. In the final analysis, it will be the U.S. Forest Service who can sway the stats one way or another and who will make the decision. We expect they'll make a decision objectively, embodying the regulations in their codes as objectively as they possibly can.
Q. Will you get your own experts?
A. No, we certainly don't have the budget to go out and hire water and air experts. That's the job of Rosemont, that's their responsibility and I think they have done a good job of meeting it so far. We will certainly attend one or more of the EIS (environmental impact statement) hearings.
Q. Is it a cop-out for your group not to take on the substance of these mining issues in detail as this project goes through the environmental reviews?
A. I don't see it that way at all. Rosemont is responsible for responding to and answering all regulatory requirements set forth by the Forest Service. That's a pass-fail exam. Either they will meet or exceed them or they will not. I don't think this will be open to a lot of selective evaluation. The Forest Service has regs that need to be met and Rosemont has to meet them. Our whole point is if they do, let's put that mine in action and put our neighbors back to work.

The scenic Santa Ritas taken after snowfall this year by a KOLD viewer

And finally......
Save the Scenic Santa Rita mission: to protect the scenic, aesthetic, recreational, environmental and wildlife values of the Santa Rita Mountains, Patagonia Mountains, Canelo Hills and San Rafael Valley through education and outreach, including protection of these areas from degradation due to mining activities.We were formed in 1996 to protect the scenic, aesthetic, recreational and wildlife values of the Santa Rita Mountains through education and outreach, including protection of the Santa Ritas from degradation due to mining activities. The group, started in Sonoita, was originally called Swapwatch, and included members of the Sierra Club, Tucson Audubon Society, The Wildlands Project, the Sonoran Institute, League Of Conservation Voters, and the Wrong Mountain Wildlife Preserve, not to mention many local citizens from Tucson, Sonoita, Vail, and Elgin. We incorporated and changed our name to Save the Scenic Santa Ritas in late 1996. Our main focus in 1996 was stopping the ASARCO/Forest Service land exchange in the Rosemont Valley of the Santa Ritas, and preventing an open pit copper mine there. The land exchange proposal was withdrawn in early 1998, but SSSR continued to monitor the Santa Ritas for new mining proposals. In 2005 Augusta Resource, a small Canadian junior mining company bought the Rosemont Ranch and has proposed a large open pit copper mine on that property that includes dumping their tailings and waste on the adjacent Coronado National Forest lands, our public lands. We are tracking this proposal in addition to new mining and mineral exploration proposals in the Patagonia Mountains, including the Canelo Hills and San Rafael Valley. Our short term goal is to prevent any mining from occurring in these areas. Our long term goal is to obtain permanent protection by supporting withdrawal of the Forest Service lands from mineral entry, and protecting the private lands from mining.

General contact information

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas

8987 E. Tanque Verde #309-157

Tucson, AZ 85749

Email

info@scenicsantaritas.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phone520-445-6615

And that's my story for today....