EAST HELENA — A quarter century after the East Helena smelter closed, the site isn’t just about rehabilitation; it’s about reclaiming a piece of history and turning it into something future generations can be proud of.
(WATCH: Former ASARCO properties used to benefit the community)
“We are literally writing history as we go here in real time, which is really cool and an honor to be a part of this,” Mary Hollow, the executive director of Prickly Pear Land Trust, shared.
The former ASARCO smelter site and properties are now at the center of a major transformation, guided by the Montana Environmental Trust Group and community partners.
In 2011, East Helena asked Prickly Pear Land Trust to help establish parks on the former ASARCO land. In 2020, the Montana Environmental Trust Group transferred ownership of two park sites to PPLT: Prickly Pear Park and The Grove. The sites have seen 75,000 visitors since they opened to the public last year.
“This community got together and decided one of our priorities is open space, parks, and recreation, and let us create a new identity for East Helena for the next 100 years,” Nate Kopp, the Prickly Pear Land Trust program and trails director, expressed.
(WATCH: A Lasting Legacy — 25 Years after ASARCO in East Helena)
Prickly Pear Land Trust says the shift from the past to now hasn’t been easy, but it reflects decades of cleanup and community effort.
“It has been a very emotional progression and evolution from then to now,” Hollow noted. “I think we have fully arrived in a place where people have lived through the evolution to a point where now the future is really bright.”
The redevelopment effort stretches beyond recreation, such as Prickly Pear Elementary and East Helena High, which were both built on former ASARCO properties managed by METG.
“A big part of that has been taking ownership of property that was originally owned by ASARCO, all around the community of East Helena, mitigating those properties for lead contamination and then putting them to use for new purposes for the community, and a great example of that is the school locations,” East Helena Public Schools superintendent Dan Rispens explained.
But the reclamation and redevelopment expand to benefit the communities in many ways, including one former ASARCO property, now housing Town Pump, and another with plans for the nearby Rose Hills development, set for around 1500 homes to help with Montana’s housing crisis.
“That next phase has to benefit this community and has to be done thoughtfully, cautiously, and carefully with future generations in mind,” Helena Area Habitat for Humanity executive director Jacob Kuntz shared.
Even as the landscape changes, community leaders say the past won’t be forgotten.
Kuntz said, “We are not going to hide from that story, and even though that hillside will be a sledding hill in a few years, or a nice green hillside, the legacy of the smelter will live on.”
