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The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) celebrated Arbor Day by honoring Vindex Energy Corporation’s leadership and planting 2,400 trees on a reclaimed coal mine near Barton in Allegany County.
Recognizing the importance of reforestation, MDE Deputy Secretary Bob Summers presented the 2008 Reforestation Award to Vindex Energy Corporation for their use of The Forestry Reclamation Approach, which employs innovative reclamation techniques designed to promote tree growth. Vindex is leading the effort to employ this approach in reclamation efforts at coal mines across Appalachia.
As part of this restoration effort, youth and counselors from the Department of Juvenile Services Meadow Mountain Youth Camp joined volunteers from Office of Surface Mining, Georges Creek Watershed Association, Maryland Coal Mine Industry, and the Land Reclamation Committee Vindex Energy Corporation. Together they planted 100 American Chestnuts, along with other native trees such as northern red oak, red maple, pin oak, and black walnut.
MDE's Mining Program regulates active coal and non-coal mining across the state and is the permitting authority for natural gas drilling in Maryland. There are approximately 328 permitted non-coal sites that produce construction stone, sand and gravel, cement, clays, and dimension stone. There are 63 active coal mines and approximately 100 gas wells in Western Maryland. MDE also reclaims abandoned pre-law surface mines and monitors the effects that they can have on land and water resources.
The event was part of a larger, Appalachian-wide tree planting to restore the American Chestnut to the forests. The American Chestnut tree was once a prominent species in the eastern half of the United States, accounting for nearly 25 percent of all hardwoods within its natural range from Maine to Georgia. In the early 1900s, the American Chestnut was devastated by the Chestnut Blight, a fungus that causes large cankers or sores on the bark and eventually kills the tree. Since the blight does not kill the roots, a few survivors can still be found, but these surviving trees almost always die before they get big enough to produce nuts. Organizations such as the American Chestnut Foundation provide seedlings to be planted to reestablish the once prominent native.
For more information about:
MDE’s Mining Program click here.
The American Chestnut Foundation click here.
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