Conservation groups have sued the U.S. Forest Service over its approval of the Stibnite Gold Project, a mine to be developed about 45 miles east of McCall, Idaho.

The mine would jeopardize public health and clean water, harm threatened plants and animals, and permanently scar thousands of acres of public land in the South Fork Salmon River headwaters, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs.

Impacts to critical salmon habitat are among major concerns, John Robison, public lands and wildlife director with plaintiff the Idaho Conservation League, told Capital Press. The mine also raises concerns about wildfire risk and evacuation since the project would bring additional human activity and electrical power infrastructure to the area.

“The impacts to the South Fork Salmon River watershed, threatened fish and wildlife, public access, clean air, clean water and world-class recreation from the Stibnite Gold Project are simply unacceptable,” he said in the release. ICL also is concerned about the Forest Service’s ability to manage the project given recent layoffs at the Payette National Forest.

USFS in its Jan. 3 final record of decision authorized Perpetua Resources to develop the gold, silver and antimony mine per the company’s modified mine plan of 2021, according to a news release from the Payette forest. The Forest Service approved a special use authorization for transmission line upgrades and installation of a new power transmission line with supporting infrastructure.

Earlier, an objection resolution period “culminated in a set of changes that strengthen the final decision,” according to the Payette forest’s release

The plan doubles the existing disturbance area to 3,265 acres and entails excavating three large open pits, one of which would extend more than 720 feet beneath the bed of the east fork of the South Fork Salmon, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Several more steps, including additional permits and approvals, are required before the project can begin.

“Permitting this level of destruction not only threatens a culturally important area and cherished public lands, it fails to comply with the law,” said Bryan Hurlbutt, staff attorney at Advocates for the West. “By prioritizing mining and giving Perpetua Resources everything they asked for, the Forest Service violated its duties to protect fish and wildlife, and ensure clean water and air.”

The lawsuit contends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect threatened Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, wolverines and white bark pine.

“This lawsuit is about protecting the South Fork Salmon River watershed from a toxic gold mine that would destroy vital habitat for salmon and bull trout along with this breathtakingly beautiful place,” Marc Fink, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in the release. “The agencies need to focus on cleaning up the toxic mining pollution that’s already here, not make things worse by green lighting decades more of it.”

Stream temperatures would increase due to removal of riparian shading, said Nick Kunath, Idaho Rivers United conservation director.

The conservation groups’ complaint makes nine claims for relief and  asks the U.S. District Court in Idaho to declare that the Forest Service’s approval violates several federal laws and rules.