Grand opening for new East Helena park

On a recent morning on the edge of East Helena, a sandhill crane landed next to a dense thicket of willows along a burbling creek, highlighting the natural appeal of Prickly Pear Park, which opens to the public this Thursday, May 1.

Yet looming over this pastoral scene was a black mountain of slag, the metal oxide by-product of smelting and a reminder of what happened here for over a century. Once the ASARCO plant shut down in 2001, its footprint became a Superfund site under the care of the U.S.’ Environmental Protection Agency.

The Montana Environmental Trust Group began remediation efforts in 2011 and soon granted Prickly Pear Land Trust 240 acres to be developed for East Helena residents. Responding to local demand for recreational space, Prickly Pear decided on a park and worked for years with engineers and botanists to create a paved trail and seed wildlife-supporting plants and trees.