Freeport-McMoran Miami, Inc.

About the Program
Freeport-McMoRan Miami, Inc’s 45,683-acre mining facility is located on the southern perimeter of the Tonto National Forest in Miami, Arizona, approximately 80 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona. The site includes reclaimed grassland habitat, pollinator gardens used for community education activities and various raptor protection structures for local avian species.  

Practices and Impacts

• In 2012, the team adapted 1,480 acres of post-mining land into native grassland habitat, planting mainly native grassland species. The team regularly maintains the grassland habitat, conducting revegetation to ensure ideal plant survival rates. The team periodically conducts Landscape Function Analyses, most recently in 2019, which monitor multiple aspects of the habitat such as vegetation, net infiltration, stormwater and soil health. The team also installed wildlife monitoring cameras in 2021 to more closely observe wildlife activity in the grassland habitat. The team has observed wildlife regularly utilizing the habitat and has made great progress toward their goal of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem. 
• The team created a pollinator garden on-site to support native pollinator species in the region. They regularly monitors plant survival and bloom, noting great success of the pollinator habitat since the beginning of the project. The team has also observed a wide variety of pollinator species in the habitat, most predominantly bee species. 
• Freeport-McMoRan works to mitigate risk for raptors and other avian species on-site by reducing electrocution risk. To accomplish this, the team has installed features on many power lines on-site that minimize the distance between energized and grounded parts of the lines. They also installed structures to help guide raptors and other perching avian species toward safe areas for nesting. 
• The project team created a non-vegetated wetland waterbody onsite in order to capture stormwater runoff and provide freshwater resources to wildlife onsite. In addition, they installed wildlife cameras in the habitat in 2020 to monitor wildlife and waterfowl usage. The project aligns closely with the BCI Waters for Wildlife program, which works to increase access to water resources for native wildlife and improve water quality for livestock.