Partnership Seeks to Reforest Former Surface Mine Site

http://www.tricities.com/tri/business/local/article/-TRI_2008_03_19_0006/9427/

Partnership Seeks To Reforest Former Surface Mine Site

Kathy Still/Bristol Herald Courier
Published: March 18, 2008

The Nature Conservancy; the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy; and Virginia Tech are working together to capture carbon dioxide the old-fashioned way – by using trees.

The partnership is striving to restore 80 acres of land to native Appalachian forest so the trees planted can absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that many say leads to global warming.

Planting trees can reduce the effects of climate change because the trees store carbon. The partners also say the forest helps watershed conditions, especially in the Clinch and Powell river areas.

"Climate change presents one of the greatest environmental challenges in human history, but through innovative science, we are developing pragmatic solutions that can reduce the pace and impact of climate change," Brad Kreps, director of the conservancy’s Clinch Valley Program, said Tuesday.

The partners are planting 600 trees per acre, which totals 46,000 native Appalachian hardwood trees such as various oaks.

"Its legacy of coal mining and its globally significant biological diversity make the Clinch Valley an excellent setting to strike a balance between our nation’s energy needs and desire to conserve forests and reduce carbon emissions."

The group is using money from a settlement Dominion Resources reached with the federal Environmental Protection Agency on air quality issues to pay for the project. Kreps said those involved hope to have a final tally on what it costs to return post-mined land to native forestland as the project progresses.

"It’s fairly expensive," Kreps said. "This is definitely a pilot program."

The Forestland Group, an organization that works to manage private forests in an environmentally sound manner, owns the parcel of land in the Flint Gap section of Russell County that the partners are using for the reforestation project. The site is located near Dante, Va.

Work on the site began in November when Virginia Tech researchers found a way to measure how much carbon dioxide would be absorbed as the trees grow. Those involved hope to use the site as a pilot project for converting more post-mined land to forest.

Planting trees on former strip mines has not always been easy or even encouraged. The soil was once deeply compacted during the reclamation process, which made it very difficult for trees to take root on the hard, unforgiving soil.

Changes in reclamation methods now make it easier for coal companies and others to re-establish trees on the post-mine land.

"Through this pilot project, we hope to demonstrate that, with the right approach, former mined lands can once again become healthy and productive native forests," Richard Davis, a reclamation specialist with DMME, said in a news release. "The effective reforestation of mined lands is something that our agency has committed itself to, and we hope to undertake more of these projects in the future."

The partners are also following closely the work done previously at Virginia Tech’s Powell River Project, an outdoor laboratory that explores various uses for post-mined land, Kreps said.

DMME and the conservancy got the site ready last winter by cutting and mulching various small trees and shrubs planted years ago during the original reclamation.

Kreps said the site also had to be fertilized because the mix of soil used to reclaim the land has a variety of acidic and alkalinity levels. The site preparation work – which also included ripping away some of the heavily compacted soil – will help the trees easier take root, he said.

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