Four Corners • Entered by Jennifer Singer on April 29, 2024
Slick Rock Uranium exploration
January 1, 2024 – April 30, 2024
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 2 |
| Post Admin hours | 2 |
| Activity Hours | 14.5 |
| Participants | 4 |
| Total Hours | 62 |
Key Issue: Wilderness & Monument Designation/Protection
Activity Type: Advocacy (rallies, lobbying, meeting decision makers, letters/calls/emails)
Key Partners: Mason Osgood- Sheep Mountain Alliance, Jennifer Thurston- INFORM, Sally Sharp
Short Description of Activity
Opposition to 20 exploratory drilling sites special use permit- 2 are within Dolores River NCA. Attended San Miguel County Planning and Zoning meeting and commented. Passed 3-2. They tried to get the two sites next to Dolores River removed from permit. Highbury Resources would not. Kat Wilder commented as local rancher because I notified her family members. Sally made us an online petition collecting 330+ signatures plus the 50 I collected on a hardcopy petition. I signed our Broadband onto a letter with Mason and Jennifer which was mentioned in a Telluride News article. I contacted Michael Jensen BLM Spring Creek Herd Management and that led to the BLM Geologist Bridget Wade on the project who responded with several emails about possible effects on local wild horse herd. My friend Cherrie led us on a field trip to see the mining area and remains from past mining. She lived at the Slick Rock mining camp till she was 4 years old and lost half of her family to uranium mining accidents and cancer.
Reflection/Evaluation
We’ll see if the San Miguel County Commissioners vote it down. I think the Dolores River exploratory drilling sites are the most contentious, especially within the Dolores River NCA. So I wrote to Senator Bennet about protecting the river from the permit which would allow them standing to mine in the future. Water is another concern. They mentioned water trucks, which would run right over the native plants that they propose to protect. Flooding was mentioned by Kat Wilder, and their wattles solution would not protect the Dolores River when the washes flood. I’m also skeptical that local drilling contractors are going to have the same environmental concerns as Highbury Resources proposed. I’m doing a virtual field trip with SWOS students soon and we’ll see how they want to help.
Photos/Uploads
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Photo Captions
Jennifer and Shelby oppose exploratory drilling/mining at Slick Rock Canyon.