The Gila National Forest Challenge Venture Mill Site. Courtesy/USDA Forest Service
WILDEARTH GUARDIANS News:
SILVER CITY — The U.S. Forest Service announced on Thursday that it will begin the cleanup of mining materials at the abandoned Challenge Venture Mill near Mogollon, approximately eight miles northeast of Glenwood, N.M.
Conservation and community advocates applauded the cleanup, which is a result of years of advocacy from local community members and WildEarth Guardians. The Challenge Venture mill site, a 40-plus-year-old mining facility that was shut down by the EPA in 1985, sits on public land in the middle of the Gila National Forest, just a few miles north of the Gila Wilderness boundary.
“The problem of the Challenge Venture Milling Site as an environmental hazard and eyesore was brought to my attention in July 2024,” said Cordelia Rose, owner of Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths. “I photographed the site extensively and interviewed the last person who worked there learning of the chemicals used in each tank and sump. The Acting Glenwood Ranger came to visit the site with me in September and agreed that the dangers Challenge Venture Milling Site posed to the public needed remediation. Her immediate action of identifying funds to return this beautiful area to public use is greatly appreciated. I look forward to sending visitors to my Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths on up the road to see the stunning 300° views across mountains and mesas.”
“After 45 years of watching tons of metal and concrete emerge and erode from this once fabulous vista point, we are grateful to the Forest Service for taking on the laborious task of reclamation,” said Stanley King, owner of the Silver Creek Inn in Mogollon, NM. “From 1979 until 1985, the Challenge Venture operation polluted this 10 acre site and was finally shut down after causing a major spill of copper sulfate into Silver Creek. We are looking forward to being able to send our visitors to the site and will be proud to share this wonderful location for viewing Silver Creek Canyon, the historic town site of Mogollon, Spring Mountain and all the way West to the Arizona Mogollon Rim.”
“We are thrilled that after over 40 years of pollution and degradation, the Forest Service is taking action to remediate this abandoned mill site,” said Leia Barnett, New Mexico Conservation Lead for WildEarth Guardians. “The western slope of the Gila National Forest where the site is located holds important cultural and ecological value. This project is a good step towards greater protections for the entire region and demonstrates that extractive industry is not the future for the Greater Gila.”