Initiating Regional Inventories

Beartooth RC & D, Joliet, Montana

The Beartooth Resource Conservation and Development Area in south central Montana has a rich history of mining and agriculture, but many businesses that supported those sectors have closed, leaving vacant sites. Tourism and recreation are now the growing segments of the economy. Infill development on brownfields sites is a significant component of the region’s development strategy, since infill limits growth into the open space that residents and visitors value.

Beartooth is collaborating with local development organizations, local, state and federal government entities and private businesses to use brownfields redevelopment to stimulate local economic revitalization. With a 2004 EPA $200,000 grant, Beartooth has completed three Phase I assessments and will soon complete two more.

These assessments were conducted at high profile sites within the region, enhancing community members’ interest in redeveloping brownfields. This has aided Beartooth in compiling an inventory that categorizes brownfields sites by county, underground storage tank release sites, state superfund sites, Water Quality Act sites, voluntary cleanup sites, abandoned mine sites and other leaks.