Wolf Creek Community Alliance was awarded a Technical Assistance Grant from the State of
California that focuses on the Empire Mine State Historic Park. Funded by the Department of
Toxic Substances Control, the project will look at the clean-up efforts that have been undertaken
within the park and in adjacent lands surrounding the park to determine if historic mine
contamination has been properly characterized and whether the park has been cleaned up to
adequate levels to protect human health and the environment.
The project launched in the Fall of 2025 and continues until January 2027. Wolf Creek
Community Alliance has contracted a group of Technical Advisors with experience working on
mine remediation, soil and water quality monitoring, 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 assessment of the
park 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 on this project. If you’re not already,
subscribe to the WCCA newsletter sign up to receive updated information about meetings and
what is being learned as the project goes forward. For more information, contact
greg@wolfcreekalliance.org.
