By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Doe Run Company and the U.S. Forest Service have swapped land in the Mark Twain National Forest.
The Forest Service is giving the St. Louis-based mining company 438 acres of federal land. In exchange, Doe Run is giving up 441 acres near the Bell Mountain Wilderness area and along the West Fork of the Black River.
Jim Bensman is with the environmental group Heartwood, which opposed the land exchange.
Bensman says the tracts the Forest Service is picking up are fine, but he's more concerned about what the park is losing.
"It's no problem with obtaining them. It's the consequences of what you have to give up to get them. We just didn't think it's worth it," Bensman said. "Particularly, when you consider it's facilitating more lead-mining."
Forest Service spokeswoman Charlotte Wiggins says Doe Run plans to expand mine tailings ponds.
Wiggins says the exchange benefits the park because it consolidates the federal land holdings.
"Not only will it provide people more recreational access to places like the Bell Mountain Wilderness Area, but it will also reduce the cost of managing the land," she said.