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Snow geese die in mine pit

Several thousand snow geese died after a snowstorm forced tens of thousands of the migratory birds to take refuge in the acidic, metal-laden waters of an old open pit mine in Montana last week.

But the toll could have been much worse, said Mark Thompson, environmental affairs manager for mine company Montana Resources. Along with the Atlantic Richfield Co., Montana Resources is responsible for Berkeley Pit, a Superfund site in Butte.

Witnesses said the pit looked like "700 acres of white birds," on Nov. 28, Thompson said Tuesday.

Since then, employees of MR and Arco have used spotlights, noise makers and other efforts to haze the birds off the water and try to prevent others from landing.

The companies estimate that over 90 per cent of the birds were chased off by the morning of Nov. 29, Thompson said.

Workers received some advance notice about the incoming flock from an off-duty Montana Resources employee about 25 miles away, who called to report there were about 25,000 geese in the air in Anaconda, Thompson said.

"I can't underscore enough how many birds were in the Butte area that night," Thompson said. "Numbers beyond anything we've ever experienced in our 21 years of monitoring by several orders of magnitude."

The employees "did incredible things to save a lot of birds and they really put their heart and soul behind it," he said. "They did everything they could think of."

Typically, Butte sees between 2,000 and 5,000 birds all year, including spring and water migration, Thompson said.

The estimated death toll is based on drone and aircraft flights over the pit, which holds about 45 billion gallons of water.

Thompson said federal and state agencies are still confirming the number of dead geese. Nonetheless, the company expects the total will be many times more than the 342 that died in 1995, prompting the creation of the mitigation effort that seeks to protect birds from the toxic water.



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