The USFS has published a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Rosemont, open-pit, copper mine that would be mostly sitting on public lands of the Coronado National Forest. Since I filed comments on the draft statement (DEIS), I was able to request a hard-copy of the FEIS. The multiple volumes arrived via UPS in a 17 lb shipment! However, the USFS seems to have avoided responding to most of the comments that were technical and/or scientific in nature (there were over 25,000 comments submitted in reaction to the DEIS).
Many members of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce are supportive of the mine going in, even though public lands will be destroyed, the number of jobs related to the mine's estimated life will do little to invigorate the economy of southern Arizona, and pollution will increase as air and ground water quality degrade. The profits from the mining will go to a Canadian company (Augusta Resources Corporation - Rosemont Copper) and the copper produced will mainly go to Asian countries along the Pacific Rim. More on the pros and cons of this project are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemont_Copper
The local business weekly, Inside Tucson Business, headlined its December 20th (2013) issue with "120 Days To Go (Maybe) - Forest Service gives tentative OK to Rosemont mine." The article led off with a photograph that showed a USFS simulated image of what the mine would look like from mile marker 46 on Highway 83. It is a fairly benign and dry image with the mine tailings and pit just peeking over the intervening hills. However, this image was not one for the actual proposed mine that the USFS has given its tentative OK.
The project area is along the east flanks of the northern end of the Santa Rita Mountains (an ecologically diverse Sky Island) and west of state Highway 83 (a state of Arizona designated scenic highway). The project region experiences a summer rainy period that produces a dramatic greening during the monsoon period, due mostly to the rapid growth of grasses and leafing mesquite trees (the junipers and oaks on the site hold much of their color through the dry seasons). However, most photographs depicting the project area (i.e., by the USFS, Rosemont Copper and its consulting companies) are from dry times of the year, never showing (purposefully?) the natural summer beauty of the site.
The following collage is of USFS photos and simulations and also photographs I took from various spots along and west of Highway 83. The photographs I took are from mid-September 2013, as the summer monsoon was winding down.
The above is a USFS current photo from mile marker 46 (at the far northeast corner of the Rosemont Project area - near the USGS stream flow gauge in Barrel Canyon) paired with a simulation of the same view when the planned mine would be in operation.. Below is a similar pair of photos for mile marker 44 - there is a scenic overlook at this mile marker, but there will certainly be nothing scenic here if the mine is completed. Note that all of these are depicting the scenes when it is dry and the grasses are dormant.
I shot the photo above (on September 13, 2013) looking west from the mile marker 44 scenic turnout. The grasses are knee-high, or taller, and most of the land not covered with trees is covered with grasses (a few exposures on ridges are mostly barren and the steeply sloped mountains along the west edge of the project area are abrupt and bare rock).
I then headed south and took a dirt road into the eastern portion of the project area. The photo below was taken within the project area and in this part of the project area the arroyos are filled with mesquite and juniper trees because of the higher elevation and more annual rainfall than at the lowest elevations.
I continued south again on 83 and the photo above is at a higher, and wetter elevation, where the arroyos are filled with beautiful live oak trees and interspersed deep grasses.
It shouldn't be a surprise that a very high percentage of the ranches and properties with the entire general area of the proposed mine are currently offered for sale. The signs shown below are just off the southeast corner of the Rosemont project area - the trees are again large, live oaks.
The project area slopes upward from northeast to southwest, producing a strong gradient of annual rainfall. The state-of-art, high resolution PRISMS system (developed at Oregon State for application to complex terrain) yields 30-year estimate of annual rainfall on the project area that ranges from 21 inches per year near the stream gauge to over 25 inches along the ridge at the southwest edge of the project area. The character of the summer surface and vegetation shown in these photos reflects this strong gradient in annual rainfall across the project area.
Finally, this simulation of the mine at full capacity (below) is what Arizonans who support this project would leave to their children and grandchildren.
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