• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Agreement Promotes the Planting of Trees on Strip-Mined Land

Posted on: Friday, 19 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 18--With the well-tended trees of the Arboretum on Alumni Drive as a backdrop, officials signed an agreement yesterday aimed at promoting growing forests on land that has been strip-mined.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher and University of Kentucky President Lee Todd were there, but the star of the event was Don Graves, a long-time UK forestry professor.

Graves, who was recognized as "the godfather of Kentucky reforestation," worked for decades figuring out how to grow trees on land that had been ripped open for its coal.

The answer turned out to be deceptively simple: Leave the rock and dirt in loose piles so water can sink in and tree roots can find space to grow.

The idea met a lot of resistance at first, mainly because reclamation officials thought mined land should be compacted to the consistency of a parking lot.

Graves helped get the reclamation rules changed. He said after yesterday's ceremony that anyone concerned about the environment should welcome trees being planted on mined land.

"If they like to fish, they like to breathe, they like clean water, I don't think they can be opposed to it," he said.

What specifically happened at the Arboretum is that Todd and Fletcher signed an agreement to join a multi-state reforestation effort that the state already had joined in December.

The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative was started by the federal Office of Surface Mining.

Brent Wahlquist, director of OSM's Appalachian Regional Office, said the ceremony would help get the word out about growing trees.

"The benefit of an event like this is it brings together the governor and the university to change the culture, because we realize we're dealing with a cultural issue here," he said.

Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said coal operators were increasingly realizing the importance of planting trees instead of leaving mined land as rolling pastures.

It will be harder, he said, to educate landowners whose land has been mined.

"It's hard to say 'Here's a pile of rocks. That's what we're leaving for you,'" Caylor said. "And they say 'Yeah, sure.'"

-----

To see more of the Lexington Herald-Leader, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kentucky.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

More News in this Category