On the slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, north of Flagstaff, Arizona, a 100-foot deep mine pit yields volcanic pumice, a soft white rock used to make stonewashed jeans. For the last three years a determined coalition led by the Sierra Club and thirteen Native American tribes who hold the Peaks sacred have waged a campaign to stop the proposed expansion of the White Vulcan mine. On August 28, 2000 their campaign ended with success.

At a ceremony at the mine pit, James Lyons, Undersecretary of Agriculture, Mark Squillace of the Department of the Interior, and Douglas Martin, attorney for Arizona Tufflite Inc. signed an agreement to shut down the mine and reclaim the 90-acre site over the next five years. Tufflite will receive $1 million and will be allowed to remove pumice already stockpiled on the property for the next ten years. Tufflite will also relinquish 49 mining claims in the area, covering 8,000 acres of land.