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REVETT MINERALS Replacing a Grizzly Habitat For the Rock Creek project, Revett has committed to a com- prehensive grizzly bear mitigation plan that is a major step toward creating a total recovery plan for the entire Cabinet- Yaak Ecosystem. The cost for this plan is estimated at approximately $30 million over the course of the 25- to 30- year life of the project. Most of the costs are associated with land purchases, monitoring, law enforcement and augmenta- tive. The plan calls for 2,450 acres of habitat replacement. A trust fund has been established for two biologists and a fish and game officer for 30 years. "This mitigation plan did not have to be in place until construction begins on the Evaluation Adit, but we have been funding a biologist for three years now," Miller said. The biologist has identified preferred areas of grizzly habi- tat, which may or may not be for sale. Revett has been able to purchase some properties. Some of which are old patent- ed mining claims, while others were old timber company properties. "We are only disturbing 485 acres, but we are being asked to establish 2,450 acres," Miller said. If a bear wanders onto the mine site, the miners are trained to properly identify them and leave them alone. "We have had these bear augmentation programs going on near the Troy mine for years," Miller said. "About a mile from Troy is one of the most satisfactory areas to plant grizzlies. They have planted six in the last five years. They have radio collars and we have found that a couple of them live on top of Mt. Vernon above the mine site. Occassionally, they have been spotted on the mine road. We have also seen the tracks on the tailings impoundment. They are not being displaced by the mine; it's a peaceful coexistence." For the Cabinet Yaak Ecosystem, the goal is to grow the bear population to 90 to 100 grizzlies, Erickson explained. "Biologists believe there are currently 10 to 15 grizzlies in the Cabinet and another 20 to 25 in the Yaak," Erickson said. "We are participating in an ongoing hair snagging pro- ject to better define that number." Just as it sounds, hair samples are collected from barbed wire and cataloged by DNA. The U.S. Geological Survey does the work for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The studies are funded through pri- vate money. The county has put up money along with Revett and some private entities. A similar study was performed in Glacier National Park and the adjacent wilderness area that indicated that there were 900 grizzlies in that ecosystem. COMPANY PROFILE-PAID ADVERTISEMENT Hilliard Corp In 1905,William J. Hilliard obtained a patent for a new type of friction clutch he had designed. The same year he founded The Hilliard Clutch and Machinery Company in Elmira, New York. Friction clutches were sold primarily to machine shops where they were used to connect and disconnect machine tools such as lathes and drills from a primary power source. The company began to find new applications, and soon the clutch was being used in fire trucks and carousels. These applications carried the company into the early 1920s. By 1925, the company changed its name to The Hilliard Corporation, to reflect the diversity of its product line. mitment to engineering and product develop- ment as well as its investment in the latest machining, processing and welding equip- ment is what has kept the company going strong for more than a century. In 1952, Hilliard began a partnership with Twiflex Engineering of Twickenham, England, to manufacture centrifugal clutches for them. The relationship continues to this day, as Hilliard remains the U.S. distributor for the Twiflex industrial braking systems The company continued its growth in the 1980s by developing a bi-directional overrunning clutch used in 4-wheel drive systems on ATVs. Hilliard has continued to grow by pur- chasing surrounding manufacturing space, as well as constructing new space. Hilliard has expanded over the years to 500,000 square feet of manufacturing facili- ties and office space and employs more than 500 people. The Hilliard Corporation's com- 72 E&MJ; • JUNE 2012 www.e-mj.com Hilliard produces a braking systems for the mining industry as well a full line of prod- ucts for the power generation industry under the HILCO brand name. Products include fil- ter housings, filter cartridges, transfer valves, reclaimers and reclamation systems, fluid fil- tration and conditioning systems, vent mist eliminators to control emissions, and starter products. Hilliard also manufactures products for wastewater applications such as plate and frame filters, and ceramic membrane filters. www.hilliardcorp.com