The Prickly Pear Land Trust brought community members, local and state leaders, and environmental officials together on Tuesday to provide an update on the status of Prickly Pear Park and slag pile remediation at the East Helena Smelter site.
From the view at the top of the longtime ASARCO slag pile, Prickly Pear Park is nearly ready to open to the public.
"This has been closed and the public and was the former ASARCO industrial site, so for this to be open to the public after more than 100 years is a really awesome moment. We're gearing up to open it in the spring as prickly pear park to the public, hopefully in late April," said Mary Hollow, the trust’s executive director.
The new park covers 200 acres and will include a walking, hiking, and biking trail. Work on the park is still ongoing.
“We have a few things like benches, and signage, and things that need to be placed out at the park, we've just been waiting for the ground to thaw," said Hollow.
Hollow emphasized the community benefits of the new park.
"To be able to make such awesome use and outdoor access to the creek for the public is going to have generations of benefit for the people of East Helena on into the future," she explained.
Those cleaning up the site and the East Helena Community have long awaited the park.
"It's amazing, the EPA has been working on this site for decades since the '80s and to see a park opening where we've been re-mediating, cleaning up and making a useful space for the community is fantastic," said Bridget Williams, the Remedial Project Manager for the East Helena Smelter Site at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Williams told MTN that there is still work to be done at the East Helena Smelter Remediation Site.
"It's the slag pile. Right now, we're exploring options to either continue selling slag. We need to figure out whether we will keep recycling material off the slag pile," said Williams. "The upper lift [top of the pile] is still high in Zinc and it's still usable material, we're still looking for buyers to potentially get more of that source material off-site. However, capping the slag pile is the eventual final step."
Capping the slag pile involves placing a protective cover of clean soil or other material over toxic waste sites to prevent erosion, dust, and water infiltration, which can spread contaminants in surrounding areas.
The timeline for the final work on the slag pile depends on whether there is a buyer interested in the current material.
"It depends on that upper lift, and whether or not a buyer can be found to purchase that material," explained Williams. "And purchasing that material is a win, if we can continue to sell slag off the site. That's a win for the community because it's more money into the site, which can ultimately defer the cost to cap the pile."
