On July 27^th, GeoJourney students spent the day exploring the ways that copper mining in and around Butte, Montana have changed the water quality of several of the region’s streams. With a visit to the Berkeley Pit, the nation’s largest Super Fund site, we viewed firsthand, how massive-scale, copper mining, milling, and smelting have managed to exploit the natural resources.  Then we visited four different sites that included an unremediated mine addit, two remediated sites along Silver Bow Creek, and our control stream which was Lost Creek.  At these sites, students made observations and performed a suite of water quality analyses.   From these observations and test results students collaborated on the data they gathered and produced a scientific report based on the conclusions they came to about the efficacy of acid mine drainage remediation on Silver Bow Creek.  This project has given us insight on how improper land-use negatively alters the environment for many decades and potentially centuries.