The Solution
This area below the San Antonio Mine near Red Mountain Pass was restored several years ago. Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, is collecting soil samples to see why some plants aren’t growing in certain areas. Congress Mine is behind him.. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, walks over a small pile of mining waste that spilled after a load-out chute collapsed below the San Antonio Mine near Red Mountain Pass. The area had been restored years earlier. Simon was their to collect soil samples to see if there is a reason to why some plants did not grow in some areas. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bll Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, holds enargite,(copper arsenic sulfide) below the San Antonio Mine that is toxic to plant growth. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, takes a soil sample below the San Antonio Mine and above the Congress Mine behind him near Red Mountain Pass. The area had been remediated years earlier. Simon was their to collect soil and plant samples to see if there is a reason to why some plants did not grow in some areas. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Plant growth in an area below the San Antonio Mine that was restored shows success with thriving plants as they spread across a former kill zone. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, analyzes soil made up of, from left, clay, peat, clay, minerlized soil, in an area that had been restored below the San Antonio Mine in the Mineral Creek drainage. He is trying to understand why plants are growing in some areas and not in others.. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Chris Peltz, scientist with Research Services, Kirsten Brown, with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety and Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, takes soil samples below the San Antonio Mine and near the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. The area had be restored years earlier. Simon and the group was their to collect soil and plant samples and to discuss furthur work in the area. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, collects a sample of a plant that he did not plant below the San Antonio Mine during the restoration. He later identified it as a rye grass, that he will now include in his seeding program. The area had be restored years earlier. Simon was their to collect soil and plant samples to see if there is a reason to why some plants are not growing in some areas. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
The mine access to the Congress Mine has been sealed off for safety reasons. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Weathered wood and rusty cables are about all that remains of the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Rocks turning blue/green from absorbing copper below the Congress Mine shows what the ground still contains even after having a mining waste pile removed years earlier. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Chris Peltz, a scientist with Research Services, left, Kirsten Brown, with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, and Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, takes soil samples below the San Antonio Mine and near the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. The area had be restored years earlier. Simon and the group was their to collect soil and plant samples and to discuss furthur work in the area. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, takes a soil sample below the San Antonio Mine and above the Congress Mine behind him near Red Mountain Pass. The area had be restored years earlier. Simon was their to collect soil and plant samples to see if there is a reason to why some plants did not grow in some areas. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
The rich mining history around Silverton draws thousands of tourists each year some people take tours like this group stopping in front of the Congress Mine or go for an off road adventure by themselves. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Weathered wood and rusty cables are about all that remains of the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, analyzes a remediated area below the San Antonio Mine in the Mineral Creek drainage. He is trying to understand why plants are growing in some areas and not in others. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
A dead tree fits in with the barren landscape of Eureaka tuft rock that was exposed after about eight thousand yards of mine waste was removed from the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Chris Peltz, a scientist with Research Services, Kirsten Brown, with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, and Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, takes soil samples below the San Antonio Mine and close to the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. The area had beeen restored years earlier. Simon and the group was their to collect soil and plant samples and to discuss furthur work in the area. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Lime rock was spead on the ground near the Congress Mine to help nutralize the soil. Before the ph was 2 and is now around 6. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
After removing mine waste around the Congress Mine a young spruce tree shows life is returning to the sterile area. Lichen and moss will also begin to grow in the reclaimed area. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Weathered wood and rusty cables are about all that remains of the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Kirsten Brown, with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, and Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, talk about the quality of the soil below the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. The area had been restored years earlier. Simon and the group was their to collect soil and plant samples and to discuss furthur work in the area. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Kirsten Brown, left, with the Colorado Department of Reclamation Mining and Safety, Chris Peltz, scientist with Research Services, and Bill Simon, a co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, take soil samples below the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. This area had a 30 foot deep pile of mine waste with the creek running through it before it was restored years earlier. Simon and the group where there to collect soil and plant samples and to discuss further work in the area
Weathered wood and rusty cables are about all that remains of the Congress Mine near Red Mountain Pass. JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
