Sheep Creek Rare Earth Exploration Proposal
The Bitterroot National Forest received a draft initial Plan of Operations for the Sheep Creek project on the West Fork Ranger District. The Forest will assess the Plan for completeness and will then work with the proponent, US Critical Materials, to develop a final proposal and determine the appropriate level of analysis under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). The Permitting Council has kept the Sheep Creek project on the FAST-41 Transparency Project list and the project timeline can be viewed here: https://www.permits.performance.gov/permitting-project/fast-41-transparency-projects/sheep-creek-project. Please click https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/bitterroot/projects/signup to subscribe to project email updates.
Project Summary
Location Summary:
This Rare Earth Exploration Proposal would take place in the Sheep Creek area of the West Fork Ranger District of the Bitterroot National Forest
Project Milestones:
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Scoping Start | 01/2025 (Estimated) |
| Decision | 01/2026 (Estimated) |
| Implementation | 01/2027 (Estimated) |
Expected Analysis Type:
Environmental Assessment
Special Authority:
Not Applicable / Other
Lead Management Unit:
Bitterroot National Forest All Units
Notice and Comment Regulation:
218 (2013) Non-HFRA
Project Purpose:
Minerals And Geology
Project Activity:
Minerals Or Geology Plans Of Operations
Current Status:
Developing Proposal
Forests:
Bitterroot National Forest
Districts:
West Fork Ranger District
States:
Montana
Counties:
Ravalli
Legal Land Description:
Not Applicable
Use the widget below to browse documents associated with this project. Cookies must be enabled to use this tool.
If you are using a mobile device, the setting for "Allow cross-website tracking" must also be enabled to view the documents. You do not need to sign up or login to Box to view documents, but if you have difficulty accessing the documents on a mobile device, you may choose to sign up for a free account, download the app to your device and log in to ensure that you can open the documents.
Alternatively, these documents can be accessed on the Pinyon Public website: View Documents on Pinyon Public
Daniel Pliley
1801 North First Street
Hamilton, MT 59840
4065876892
Daniel.Pliley@usda.gov
Last Updated: 5/2/2024