Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act
Signed Into Law!

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THE YELLOWSTONE GATEWAY BUSINESS COALITION

Businesses and landowners throughout Paradise Valley, Gardiner and Livingston have joined together to protect our existing local economy from two proposed gold mines on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition is a pro-business, pro-property rights group representing thousands of hardworking employees and their families. While not anti-mining, we recognize not all mining is created equal. Our gateway communities — surrounding Yellowstone — are no place for sulfide gold mines.

For us, this is NOT a political issue. It’s a business issue. It’s a financial issue. It’s a community issue. It’s a conservation issue. It’s a quality-of-life issue.

WHO WE ARE


Colin Davis
Owner of Chico Hot Springs Resort

“Chico Hot Springs Resort has been in business - helping fuel our local economy - for more than 100 years. We have one hot-water source and one cold-water source. If we lose either one, we'll be out of business. I owe it to our 170 employees and their families, as well as all the other local businesses that benefit from our economic overflow, to maintain a strong, viable business for the next... [MORE]


Tracy Raich
Owner of Raich Montana Properties LLC

“I am proud to be one of the founding members of the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition. We are a diverse group of Montana businesses and landowners. We are advocates of property rights. We are not anti-mining. We understand that there are appropriate places to mine, but the gateway to Yellowstone National Park isn’t one of them.... [MORE]


Brant Oswald
Brant Oswald Fly Fishing Services

“As a fishing guide with almost 30 years of experience in the Yellowstone valley, I'm proud to be a part of an industry that contributes substantially to the local economy while minimizing our effect on the resources we all enjoy. The impacts of industrial scale mining and the threat of acid mine drainage makes developing sulfide ore mines in the Paradise Valley a risk we can't afford to take.”


LaNette and Brice Jones
Owners of Katabatic Brewing Company

"Clean water is not only an essential component of basic living but also a key ingredient for making excellent beer. World-class beer needs world-class water, and that is just part of why Katabatic Brewing Co. opposes large-scale mining in the Yellowstone Gateway. Keep our water pure and clean.


Bryan Wells
Owner of Emigrant Creek Cabins

"I've lived on Emigrant Creek for 42 years, and I have seen gold mining companies come and go - they all have failed. They are gambling with our livelihoods and our way of life. The company will come into our community and promise the moon, but when things don't pan out, amnesia sets in. Landowners and taxpayers are left to clean up the mess every time.“


Dale Sexton
Owner of Timber Trails

"As an outdoor specialty shop serving Livingston for twenty-years, I make a living for my family and my employees based on the world-class outdoor environment that surrounds us here in Park County. We don't live here to get rich; our richness comes from the quality of life afforded by living in such an unspoiled, naturally beautiful place. Whether hiking, camping... [MORE]


Dylan Hoffman
Xanterra Parks & Resorts

“As a major employer in the Greater Yellowstone region and a steward of the world's first national park, Xanterra Parks & Resorts is proud to be a signatory to the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition. Our company prioritizes sustainability and environmental protection as a core tenet of our business model, and a mining operation at the doorstep of Yellowstone... [MORE]

JOIN US

I support the fight against inappropriate gold mines in Yellowstone Gateway communities.

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WHAT IS PARADISE?

Yellowstone National Park —Like no other place on earth.
Yellowstone is a treasure on so many levels. It’s a paradise for wildlife as well as for visitors from around the world. Without question, it’s one of Montana’s biggest assets and draws. For many locals and local businesses, “It’s the goose that lays our (economic) golden egg." [MORE]

Gateway Communities — Yellowstone’s Expanding Economic Reach
As demand for the Yellowstone “experience” continues to grow — from visitors all over the USA and around the planet — the beneficial economic overflow pushes further out from the Park’s boundaries. To allow our towns to become industrialized, or otherwise taint our charming perimeter communities, would devastate our existing, healthy economy. [MORE]

DOWNLOAD ECONOMIC REPORT

PROPOSED MINE LOCATIONS

We are not opposed to mining in Montana,
but some places just aren’t appropriate

Threatens Existing Businesses and Economy
We have worked hard to build our businesses on the threshold of Yellowstone, some of us for decades, some for over 100 years. And, our businesses rely upon the integrity of our local landscapes, abundant wildlife, pristine watersheds, our unspoiled scenic beauty, and our precious quality of life that is known and revered around the world. Whether to draw visitors for our thriving tourism economy or to recruit world-class talent for our emerging high tech jobs, we need to protect the natural assets that draw people (and their spending power) here in the first place.

Poison and Pollution
Gold mines have a bad track record in Montana. Speculating for luxury metals, to enrich a few, has left Montanans holding the bag. These toxic residuals include heavy metals like arsenic and lead that taint our lands and water forever. [MORE]

Industrialization and Truck Traffic
These proposed mines would change the agrarian atmosphere of Paradise Valley and trammel the small town charm and quality of life in Gardiner and Emigrant. But the impacts would not stop there. [MORE]

Harm Water Quality
The percentage of gold mines that have failed and tailings ponds that have leaked in Montana is both staggering and cause for serious concern. [MORE]

Private Property Rights and Common Sense
As business owners, we’re all strong believers in property rights. That is, as long as your property rights don’t gravely threaten my property rights.

Andrew Field, Founder & CEO of PrintingForLess.com
(Supporter of Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition) said it best,


“While I am a strong believer in private property rights, I also believe industrial scale mining in the Paradise Valley, the Northern Gateway to Yellowstone, would infringe on the property rights and economic prosperity of thousands of Montanans. No rights are unlimited, and I believe the right to maintain the clean and attractive community we share outweighs the potential blight on our community, including its impact on employment and tourism.”

Contact

If you would like to get in touch with a member of the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition, please email us at: yellowstonegatewaybusiness@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GROSSENBACHERPHOTO.COM, STEVEN DRAKE AND ERIC IAN