Reclaimation

Growing up in Huntington, I've found that i'm familiar with many coal terms. Reclaimation is one of those words. In the past my impression of reclaimation would be putting land back to fill up the hole the miners would dig. Now I know there is much more involved. I have learned traveling in the Northern coal cities that nature wants to "heal" itself from rubble to forrest if left alone. I can also see how people have learned over time what "works" and "doesn't work" while reclaiming mining land. Planting non-native species plants is more harmful to the ecosystems than leaving it to fix itself. I am glad that today there are EPA regulations that keep the mines working hard to return the land to it's pre-mining condition. I have found out that we are utilizing reclamation for many different types of projects, from farming land to air ports. I guess I didn't realize that people own much of the land that coal is found in here in our state. We were able to see a coal processing plant today too. That was amazing! We spend millions of dollars to clean and separate coal. Seeing how the machines work was facinating, gravity is a great helper in the process. The plant was extremely clean compared to what i expecected it to be. In the future, I hope to help my students understand the terms related to coal, learn about the multitude of jobs surrounding coal, and also to gain an appreciation of mining in our state. Even though a lot of the coal generated here in WV is sent elsewhere, coal is extremely important in the small mining communities of our state. Tonight we met with miners and their wives and talked with employees of the mine and really got a better picture of the faces of mining. Mining in the Logan & Mingo county regions is a main source of employment. I am learning how hard it is for the mine operators to meet the regulations because different inspectors are looking for "different" things. I didn't realize that two different inspectors can look at the exact same conditions and then see different violations. I guess I could compare this to different administrators in a school building. Hopefully they would find the same things good or bad about a lesson I would teach, unfortunately, they would probably also find different things that are positive or different things to improve on. I want my students to appreciate their state. I know that during this trip, i have gained a much deeper appreciation for West Virginia.