Joe Knob, Anjean WV

Today we started out with a trip to Joe Knob surface mine specifically to compare the biodiversity to other mine sites we have visted the past two days.  We had planned on taking some water samples and doing some testing but the pouring rain and lightning kinda kept us in the van.  This was my first up-close look at a surface mine and to be honest, I was really overwelmed by the size of the operation.  A lot of times when I see pictures of surface mines, it's always just a small snapshot of the enormous operations.  Until you've seen one up close, I don't really think you can imagine the scope of it.

Anyway, back to the biodiversity.  We drove to a part of the mining operation that had been "reclaimed".  When  I've hear about reclamation before, I always imagined the mine operators and the environmental groups working together to "put" the land back to as close an environment as it was before the mining process started.  I was amazed to see this really was not the case.  As you will see in the pictures below, it looked very much like an assembly line had been formed when planting the trees . . . and they all looked the same.  I couldn't see any diversity among the tree species, and this is definately NOT like it was before the mining took place.  I was immediately dissappointed in both the mine operators and environmental agencies for not using, what seems to me, common sense!!  I can't see how they think this type of reclamation can sustain the organisms that should be living in that environment.  I guess I could go on and on but I want to share some of the pictures so maybe you can understand what I'm talking about.

In this first picture, you can see that there is not a very diverse tree population.  It doesn’t look natural or “feel” natural.  It looks like an orchard, not the natural ecologic progression you would expect.

In this next picture it shows a lot of grasses and vetch.  At first glance this would appear to be a wonderful grazing ground for the deep population.  However, deer do not like the grasses and vetch that are growing here.  Another “What?” that popped into my head.  Why would this be introduced, if it isn’t a benefit to the organisms in this environment?

It made me wonder what kind of regualtions are there for reclaiming surface mines.  I guess I have a lot more to research to do to find the answers to my questions.