Reason for hope has sprung up this month at the Hope Mine south of Aspen, where the seeds of an experiment in mine reclamation were planted last fall.
Last September, representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, Aspen nonprofit For the Forest and the Carbondale-based Flux Farm Foundation stood atop a nearly barren tailings pile at the defunct silver mine, located off Castle Creek Road.
The mine tailings, dirt and rock laced with heavy metals, plunge down to the edge of Castle Creek, a key source for Aspen’s municipal water. While elevated levels of metals have been recorded in the water at the base of the pile, but not at the city’s water plant, the potential for a significant slumping of the mine waste into the creek bed made the site an obvious choice for a pilot effort to revegetate the steep, infertile tailings.
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