Prickly Pear Land Trust Executive Director Mary Hollow, left, and Communications Manager Sarah Ryan at the new Prickly Pear 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.
“It’s just wild to think that this kind of restoration and redevelopment can actually be this,” said Prickly Pear Land Trust Executive Director Mary Hollow, taking visitors on a park tour. “It’s unbelievable and unrecognizable.”
A former industrial site turned into open wetlands, Prickly Pear Park features an ADA accessible two-mile long loop paved with compact gravel, Prickly Pear Creek, and scenic views of the surrounding hills and mountains.
Thursday’s grand opening will include a noon ribbon-cutting ceremony with East Helena Mayor Kelly Harris, followed by a hamburger and hot dog cookout until 6 pm. The park opening is the culmination of a decade of clean-up and restoration efforts by the Montana Environmental Trust, which included draining several ponds to eliminate toxic water and diverting the creek back to its original flood plain.
For decades, the creek flowed directly under the slag, allowing lead, selenium, and arsenic to leach into the water. METG regularly tests the park’s soil and water for harmful contaminants, yet Hollow said visitors face no health risk.
Prickly Pear’s plans for the park include a link to the Sunderlin Trail, a nine-mile hiking path to Montana City. Hollow also said Prickly Pear hopes to create easier access to the creek, though these plans have yet to be formalized.
Prickly Pear’s vision was to create an easily accessible space where residents could learn about nature, exercise, and enjoy the outdoors. It’s also an educational space. Already, East Helena High School has brought science students to the park to learn about the environment and conduct experiments, such as measuring streamflow.
No dogs or motorized vehicles are allowed, but fishing is permitted in the creek, which offers brown and brook trout. Volunteers interested in helping develop trails, weeding, and seeding new plants should contact Prickly Pear Communications Manager Sarah Ryan, who said there is an “endless amount of work.”
Locals seemed enthusiastic about their new recreation area.
“I helped make the mess – I helped clean up the mess,” Helena resident Paul Hunthausen said as he walked by the park, referring to his years of work at ASARCO followed by work at Helena Sand and Gravel, which helped with the restoration. “This area is just so beautiful,” he said.
Lewis & Clark Library East Helena Branch manager Andrea Eckerson had high hopes for Prickly Pear Park. “It’ll be great,” she said, adding that she hoped it might leave the “slag pile looking prettier.”