Oak Flat is officially no longer public land nestled within the Tonto National Forest. The roughly 2,400 acres just east of Phoenix — long-considered Apache holy land — is now private property belonging to a multinational mining company.
Despite being under new ownership, Resolution Copper president and general manager, Vicky Peacey, stresses Oak Flat will remain mostly untouched. Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, as Apaches call it, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
“We’re very excited to take the next steps, although in a way that is humble and respectful,” Peacey told KJZZ. “We wanted to make sure that the look — the feel of the area — is very similar to how the Forest Service had managed it.”
Minus a massive two-mile-wide crater that is expected to swallow Oak Flat within the next four or so decades due to subsidence from block-cave mining. In the meantime, Resolution Copper has hired 4Winds Contracting to maintain it.
San Carlos Apache member Michael Woodbury owns and operates the Globe-based small business that will be responsible for tending to outdoor amenities, including climbing areas and hiking trails.
“All their employees are from San Carlos,” added Peacey, “so they will be out there to manage the campgrounds — to make sure they keep it clean, orderly and neat. We want to make sure that we protect and respect the vegetation.”
Peacey remains committed to keeping Oak Flat open to the public, so long as her company safely can. There's no definitive timeline, but that campground could close within a decade as the underground copper mine continues inching toward the 1.4 billion-metric-ton ore body.
Resolution Copper has already pledged to construct a new campsite some day. It’s supposed to replace Oak Flat once that area is “directly and permanently damaged,” according to the final environmental impact statement.
For now, a new website launched by the mining company is sharing alerts, like fire and weather notices, but also letting larger groups of more than 50 visitors fill out special use permit applications.
“The campground is open and accessible, and it will be like that today, tomorrow and years into the future,” said Peacey. “If people want to come and use the campground, it is open. If people want to use it for cultural purposes, absolutely welcome to do so. And we’re excited to work with everybody.”
Even Apache Stronghold.
The nonprofit fought Resolution Copper all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. They're planning a spiritual gathering at Oak Flat this weekend — a first since a panel of three federal judges allowed the congressional land exchange to go through.
The decade-in-the-making Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act was passed by Congress in 2014. It was championed by the late Sen. John McCain and added to the annual defense spending bill.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, whose agency oversees the Tonto National Forest, stated that Resolution Copper “is a prime example of bureaucratic and legal chokeholds preventing our rural communities, supply chains, and defense industry from producing the minerals we need right here in America.”
She applauded the recent ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, adding that completing this land exchange “unlocks a major domestic source of copper, essential for defense, grid modernization, and next-generation energy.”
Mining opponents from three lawsuits are still challenging the latest decision.
An emergency request was submitted by a group of Apache women. They filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service and sought to preserve parental rights, but their plea has since been denied by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, the San Carlos Apache Tribe is preparing another petition. It's asking for an en banc appeal from the 9th Circuit, which would form a panel of 11 judges to review whether the USDA rushed in handing over Oak Flat.
San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler contends the Forest Service executed its land exchange with Resolution Copper “aggressively and unlawfully ... before our legal challenge was concluded,” adding that his tribe is looking at all legal remedies to “reverse this disrespectful action.”
As for the coalition of about a dozen conservation and environmental organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, no decision has been made yet whether they'll appeal.
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