Small number of snow geese dead on Berkeley Pit

[Ptah]

BUTTE – After a tense few days of struggling to get more than a thousand snow geese to leave the Berkeley Pit, Montana Resources officials spotted dead birds at first light Thursday.

Due to safety precautions, MR cannot determine the number of dead birds. But manager of environmental affairs Mark Thompson said he spotted a small number shortly after dawn broke.

Due to concerns that the pit's southeast wall could slough off and cause a tidal wave, MR no longer puts a boat into the Berkeley Pit. Without a boat, MR will not be able to retrieve the dead birds.

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Thompson said the mine immediately ramped up their bird hazing program, which has long been in place to deter and discourage bird landings on the pit’s lake. Mine officials and Atlantic Richfield Company, the responsible parties for the Berkeley Pit Superfund site, implemented the program 20 years ago in response to the 1995 die-off when 342 snow geese stayed too long on the toxic water.

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/small-number-of-snow-geese-dead-on-berkeley-pit/article_e4e94cfd-69e0-5888-a53a-0424c2ceeb00.html