Coal Trip Day 3-

Lots of rain this morning did not make for a great trip on top of Joe Knob but the rain did allow us to see the effects of runoff in the mining area as we moved up the hill. You could see the rain pouring off the steep hills of  rock and dirt that were continuously being fed by the dump trucks. At one point the water was spewing out of a hole in the side of one of the mounds.   Mountain top removal is as ugly up close as it has always looked in the media and textbooks.  Moving past this area we moved upward toward an area of reclamation.  Comparing it to what was seen previously along yellow creek, there were marked differences.  It was covered all over with the same types of grasses, but there was an area of rows of poplar trees that looked obviously placed or contrived--just not natural.  Gone was the diversity we had seen in the yellow creek area. It was just the same plants over and over except for the occasional "poop tree or poop bush" whose seed would have been placed by a bird or other animal.  Mike Little told an interesting story about a similar situation in which a man gave free pigs to people if they agreed to drive them into the woods daily.  The result was the deposition of fig trees in the area and the implantation of a rainforest in the area.  This is the type of forethought and planning that needs to go into reclamation efforts. Going a little farther on our rain drenched trek, the diversity seemed to increase.  I am assuming that the areas with the greatest diversity had been planted earlier.  This was looking pretty good until we were told that this area would be remined for coal that had been left behind the first time thru and now technology had made its removal profitable.  I was ready to be royally outraged at these repeat rapist of the land until Mike Little gently reminded me that this remining effort was made possible by my insatiable need for instantaneous air conditioning, hot water, and a plethera of other selfish needs that I personally hold dear.
Later in the day we were in Nuttalburg where there was again an enormous amount of diversity among the plants and trees.  It is hard to believe that that reclamation all happened naturally, and looks as if it is moving at a much quicker pace  towards what it was originally. Meanwhile the Joe Knob area with man's "helping hand" lags  far behind the natural reclamation of the Nuttalburg area. However, the Joe Knob reclamation area is a far cry from the waste land of what was at the bottom of the hill in the form of the surface mining taking place.  We are at least trying now to reclaim this land, but how long will it take for us to improve this process  or educate ourselves  so that we each accept personal responsibilty for what has occured and change focus from wants to needs?