Participants describe damage at Spirit Mountain on Fort Belknap Reservation and urge policymakers to see the site

Participants on a field visit to the Fort Belknap area described visible damage at Spirit Mountain and said mining activity had altered culturally important landscapes. "Here was Spirit Mountain. This mountain that that we've used for fasting and for visions and everything was gone. It's just a bunch of rumble there," said Participant 15, participant, while standing near a gate at the head of Mission Canyon Road. Participants also described erosion at the Missouri Breaks and recounted local wildlife observations: "At 1 of our campsites, I saw a immature Cooper's hawk take a starling...the realism of it, it just sort of shocked me," said Participant 7, participant. Several speakers tied visible landscape changes to specific mining operations. Participant 8 said a company named Zorbin Lambuski "has taken away 1 of those mountains," language that participants used to describe removal or large-scale disturbance of ridgelines. Participant 2 said animals tied to the landscape had been affected: "It was the last known herd, northern herd, was killed here on Fort Belknap." Participant 15 said attempts to trace water rights met with evasive answers: "We tried to find out where they got their water rights from. And they...would tell us was, 'Oh, just from some rancher.'" Speakers framed these observations as personal testimony and urged policymakers and resource managers to visit the sites themselves. "I just kinda wish the the policy makers who are deciding the fate of natural resources would get out here more instead of sit behind desks all the time," Participant 2 said. Participants recounted cultural significance tied to place, including use of Spirit Mountain for fasting and vision quests, and described emotional responses to seeing the altered landscape. These accounts are participant observations recorded during the visit; the session did not include documentary evidence, formal environmental assessments or legal findings. No formal motions, votes or regulatory actions were made during the session. Reported details such as the identity of companies, the scope of mining operations, water-rights ownership and the death of wildlife were stated by participants and are presented here as their statements, not independently verified facts.