Two Haines residents are asking the state to put the brakes on an amended permit for Constantine Metals Resources Palmer Project, citing evidence of inaccurate stream mapping on the company's application and trails built wider than is allowed in state forests, and other concerns.

"I wasn't expecting to find what we found, but I wasn't surprised when we did," said Natalie Dawson, a Haines-based wildlife biologist and former executive director of the Audubon Society in Alaska.

In early June, Dawson and husband Eben Sargent walked the areas near the confluence of Glacier Creek and the Klehini Rivers where last month Constantine Metals proposed expanding operations.

In an email shared with CVN sent June 3, the final day for public comment on the amended permit, Dawson and Sargent submitted photos showing cleared trails more than 10 feet wide heading toward sites proposed by Constantine for seismic testing, which the company has said could be used to store tailings. The clearings were later verified in person by CVN. State regulations allow for trails to be cleared in state forests by anyone, but only five feet.

Dawson and Sargent also attached images suggesting Constantine relied on an inaccurate map of the Glacier Creek watershed. When they walked the area, Dawson and Sargent said they found wetlands were much closer to Glacier Creek and its tributaries than what Constantine's map showed.

"It was a really bold move for somebody with so much at stake to do this," said Assembly member Debra Schnabel. "And what's at stake here is community buy in,"

Constantine did not respond to requests for comment about what map it relied on in its permit application. "We have noted Ms. Dawson's concerns about the seismic line cutting and are investigating," Constantine President and CEO Peter Mercer wrote in an email.

In its amended permit application, Constantine said "existing mapping shows no overlap between wetlands and planned earthwork activities." It said it would hire HDR Inc, an Anchorage-based engineering firm, to verify wetland mapping before starting earthworks.

In early April, Constantine asked the state for permission to build some 5.6 miles of new trails in the forests below its mining claim to reach places where it wants to do seismic testing with dynamite.

The state posted a public notice on June 2 about the request, along with a two-week public comment period, which was later extended to a full month after the department received hundreds of comments requesting an extension. As part of its amended permit, Constantine also asked the state for permission to drive heavy equipment through Glacier Creek and Plateau Creek.

The state is expected to make a final decision on the permit in the coming weeks, according to Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Lorraine Henry.

But the state Department of Natural Resources said extending the permit is off the table since the public comment period -- which is not required by state law and was offered as a courtesy -- is already closed. Dawson and Sargent's request for a review of Constantine's activity under a new permit -- instead of an amended one -- is also "not an available option," according to Henry.

Henry said concerns about illegal trail clearing in the Haines State Forest would be "addressed in the DNR's Division of Mining, Land and Water decision documents." She did not expand on how it would be addressed or whether the state could issue fines for unpermitted trail clearing.

"There will be future public comment periods if additional applications are received or any changes," Henry said.

Local assembly members were divided on how meaningful the apparent discrepancies were.

Jerry Lapp, who works for Constantine, called the allegations "overblown," though he hadn't read Dawson's comment.

"I think people are looking for faults and they'll try to find any way to stop it," he said.

"I would just hope that DNR -- if it is proven to be so that this was as it seems to be -- there should be a significant fine, meaning six-digits," said Schnabel.

Constantine has come under fire by some residents for what they say is lack of community engagement after the company submitted its amended permit application without notifying the borough or the Chilkat Indian Village, which is about 17 miles from the proposed mining site.

The Palmer Project, operated by Constantine Metals, has ramped up its exploration and is planning to spend more than $25 million this year, according to its website. The company announced on Monday that it had started drilling samples at its South Wall site, a south-facing rock wall in the mountains above the Glacier Creek drainage.

Nakeshia Diop

Constantine has ramped up core sample drilling this summer at the Palmer Project in the mountains above Glacier Creek, about 35 miles outside of Haines. The company said it's planning to spend more than $25 million on work this summer.

Constantine Metals is a joint venture of the Canadian company American Pacific Mining and the Japanese company DOWA Holdings

Glacier Creek has silver salmon, cutthroat trout, and Dolly Varden, according to Fish & Game's anadromous waters catalog, and flows into the Chilkat River, which is home to all five Pacific salmon species.