LaSalle seeks to relocate Flathead gravel pit

LaSalle Sand and Gravel aims to relocate its gravel pit north of Kalispell.

Last week, the local landscaping firm announced that it was applying for an open-cut mining permit from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. The permit would allow it to mine a 76-acre site at the corner of Pioneer and Helena Flats Roads, just east of Glacier Park International Airport.

The permit application shows that LaSalle plans to mine the site for 25 years, to an estimated maximum depth of 30 feet. It expects to remove 600,000 cubic yards of gravel.

The site lies just south of LaSalle’s existing, similarly-sized pit. Justin Sherman, the company’s co-owner, told the Daily Inter Lake that “we’re out of material at our current location.”

The new pit, he said, would use the same equipment and processes, and produce the same material, as the old one. Sherman also stressed that LaSalle plans to reclaim the old site. “This isn’t just another gravel pit,” he said. “We’re closing and reclaiming one and opening another.”

He said that if all goes according to plan, the company will move its crusher and then its wash plant to the new site, and complete final reclamation of the old one by midsummer 2019.

Jeni Garcin, public information officer for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said that all 76 landowners within a half-mile radius of the proposed pit have been notified of LaSalle’s application. A public meeting on the proposal will be held if at least 30 percent of them request it. They will have until March 18 to file those requests, which can be emailed to deqopencut@mt.gov.

The permit application and supporting documents can be found at https://searchopencutpermits.mt.gov/. The permit’s number is 2935.

Reporter Patrick Reilly can be reached at preilly@dailyinterlake.com, or at 758-4407.