In support of our mission to protect, preserve and restore the Wolf Creek Watershed, one of WCCA’s priorities is to help remedy the toxic legacy left behind by historic gold mines in the area. Since our earliest years, we have tested creek sites for lead, arsenic, and other mine-related contaminants, and have advocated for clean-ups alongside allied organizations.

Wolf Creek Community Alliance was recently awarded a Technical Assistance Grant from the State of California that focuses on Empire Mine State Historic Park. Funded by the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the project will assess the clean-up efforts that have been undertaken within the park, and in adjacent lands surrounding the park, to 1) determine whether these areas have been cleaned up to adequate levels to protect human health and the environment, 2) help the community understand the clean-up process, and 3) provide the community increased opportunities to have a voice regarding next steps.

The project launches in the Fall of 2025 and continues until January 2027. Wolf Creek Community Alliance has contracted a group of Technical Advisors with expertise in mine remediation, soil and water quality testing, toxicology, and community advocacy related to mine contamination clean-up. These advisors will analyze the existing data to see if there are health and environmental exposures associated with Empire Mine State Park that necessitate further remediation, conduct additional testing to fill data gaps, and make recommendations about what can be done to reduce risks for those that use the park and live around it.

A community process will provide residents information about the project’s assessments in a forum to discuss the findings with the Technical Advisors, provide opportunities to engage with relevant local and state agencies to influence policy and actions to reduce risk from mine contaminants, and to support public health and environmental health in Grass Valley. Wolf Creek Community Alliance welcomes your participation in this project. For more information or to get involved, please contact greg@wolfcreekalliance.org.

Pictured above, Magenta Drain flows next to the playground in downtown Grass Valley’s Memorial Park, and is included among the lands and waters surrounding Empire Mine that this project will assess. This small creek flows out of Empire Mine after passing through a system designed to remove arsenic from the mine water. A schematic of this treatment system is also pictured above.