Mansfield Mine Reclamation

After the bankruptcy of the American Smelting and Refining Company LLC (ASARCO), the EPA and other federal and state agencies received about $1.7 billion for the cleanup and restoration of 80 sites scattered across the country. One such site is located in Mansfield Canyon, in the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains, where three abandoned mining projects left shafts and waste rock material that threatened the local watershed with erosion and toxic run-off containing lead and arsenic.

The US Forest Service contracted with Borderlands Restoration Network to salvage the plants that would be bulldozed in the re-routing of a road for the removal of tailings and for seed collection services to provide locally sourced plant materials for revegetation and erosion control efforts after the completion of the project.

​This project spans multiple years and includes plant salvage, reinstallation of the salvaged plants, and two seasons of seed collection to collect over 250 lbs of native seed. 
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Environmental Clean-up Begins: KOLD Channel 13
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BRN Contributes to Mansfield Mine Restoration - Patagonia Regional Times

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