A model reclamation project.

• Author: King, Geoffrey

In mid-September at a ceremony in Anchorage's downtown federal building, the new director of the Bureau of Land Management, Patrick Shea, presented the President of Cambior USA, Inc., Gerald Veillette, with the Health of the Land Award. It was the first such ceremony in which Mr. Shea, who was appointed BLM Director in May, had the honor of presiding over. For Mr. Veillette and Cambior, whose corporate offices are located in Montreal, receipt of the award was an honor as well. It was the second time in two years that the company received praise for its environmental protection work at the former mine site of Valdez Creek.

In 1995, Cambior was presented with the Governor's Award for Reclamation from the State of Alaska for its conservation efforts of Valdez Creek. The award, like the Health of the Land Award, was given in recognition of the outstanding quality of the work done. Cambior has been specifically praised for its "careful attention to minimizing the potential for future erosional degradation, while providing an excellent growth medium for rapid recolonization by local plant species."

The Health of the Land is a national award that recognizes individuals and groups who have made use of federally managed lands and done an exemplary job in restoring them to their natural state. Cambior is one of a few organizations in the mining industry, the only Canadian-based company and one of three groups operating in Alaska to have been so honored.

At the ceremony in September, Mr. Shea cited Cambior's reclamation efforts as "an outstanding example of how industry and government, working together, can make the concept of multiple use of public lands work." He said Cambior demonstrated great flexibility in working with both state and federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mining and Water Management Division of the State of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources. The environmental cleanup project was planned jointly, but monitored by the BLM and paid for by Cambior. The company spent more than $2 million on the reclamation, the centerpiece of which is a newly created lake and a completely restored creek bed.

An alluvial gold deposit located approximately 160 miles northeast of Anchorage and 55 miles east of Cantwell, Valdez Creek became the focus of placer mining operations in 1903, when gold was first discovered in the area. Over the years, claims were worked, sold, consolidated and...