WILDEARTH GUARDIANS News:
MOGOLLON — After years of advocacy from local community members and WildEarth Guardians, the Forest Service has announced they will begin a phased clean up in the fall of this year of the Challenge Venture mill site, a 40-plus year-old mining facility that was shut down by the EPA in 1985. The mill site sits on public land in the middle of the Gila National Forest, just a few miles north of the Gila Wilderness boundary.
Mogollon, New Mexico was a mining boomtown that peaked in population and mining activity in the early 1900s. The Challenge Venture project was an ill-conceived attempt to reinvigorate the gold fever of bygone times, and the owner and operator was notorious for flouting rules and regulations and failing to properly remediate sites once they were abandoned. The site has potentially been leaching toxic substances such as cyanide into the local watershed, and it has long been an eye-sore, occupying a site with some of the best views of the Mogollon Mountains and surrounding landscape.
“After 45 years of watching the tons of metal and concrete emerge and erode from this once fabulous vista where the Challenge Venture site is located, we are grateful to the Forest Service as they begin the laborious task of reclamation,” said Stanley King, owner of the Silver Creek Inn in Mogollon.
The Glenwood Ranger District within the Gila National Forest will be coordinating the clean up effort. Under CERCLA, or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the Forest Service has the ability to execute time critical remediation actions. The first phase will focus on removing visual elements at the site, and phase two will include sampling and site assessment to determine contamination levels. Phase one is slated to begin in October 2025.
“The Forest Service’s response to community concerns demonstrates their recognition that the western slope of the Gila is a valuable ecological and cultural landscape that should not be the site of extractive projects but instead should be preserved and celebrated for its exceptional wildlife, watersheds, and significance to local and Tribal communities,” said Leia Barnett, New Mexico Conservation Lead for WildEarth Guardians. “We hope this is setting a new precedent for how these lands are managed moving forward.”
“The Challenge Venture milling site is a hazardous waste horror and a danger to the public, which thankfully the Forest Service is now cleaning up and returning to nature,” said Cordelia Rose, owner of Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths. “The 10-acre site is a beautiful place with 300° views over mesas and mountains. It will be a perfect place for visitors to stop on their way to Mogollon, on up to Willow Creek and into the Gila Wilderness.”
“The Forest Service’s plan to clean up the Challenge Venture site is proof that there is power in speaking out and asking for the right thing to be done,” said Kathy Knapp, long-time resident of Mogollon. “We’re grateful to everyone involved!”