The Bunker Hill Hillsides: Site History and Planning for Early Successional Restoration on the Nation's Largest Superfund Site

Abstract

Good project planning is essential to developing appropriate and achievable restoration programs. This paper discusses the history of the Bunker Hill site and its prior condition. It further discusses the planning approaches that were used and the guidance statements that were obtained. These guidance statements generated clarity for prescription development and measurement of success on the Bunker Hill hillsides project in the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. The hillsides are part of the Bunker Hill Superfund site, a 54 km 2 area centered in Kellogg, Idaho that has been contaminated by heavy metals from a long history of mining and metallurgical activity. Environmental documentation found within the site's remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) and Record of Decision provided some general concepts of restoration work that could occur on the site but was insufficient to avoid long-term conflicts between stakeholders. In particular, a 425 ha area on the south end of the site was composed of steep, heavily eroded, denuded, and inaccessible hillsides that were contributing substantial quantities of sediment to the Coeur d'Alene River basin. Successful restoration of the hillsides required agreements between stakeholders with respect to specific goals, objectives, performance standards, and monitoring methods. These and other guidance elements guide design and execution of the restoration program. Accordingly, the authors convened a series of three workshops with project stakeholders that outlined project-specific guidance statements for this undertaking to ensure that conflicts were minimized and that the path forward for the project was well-founded. These statements have guided project development, execution, monitoring, and mid-course corrections and has resulted in a successful project with few to no stakeholder conflicts. Additional keywords: conflict resolution, goals, objectives, performance standards, monitoring methods.