Abandoned Ohio Coal Mines Leave Holes in the Landscape and the Economy. A Government Program Aims to Fill Them
The newest recreational area of Friendship Park in eastern Ohio’s Jefferson County is situated between acres of rolling farmland and a big lake. The sloping hill there has just been revegetated with native plants, two different types of restored wetlands, pollinator plots, even a bat roost. The oasis is a far cry from how the land looked just a few years ago.
An abandoned surface mine, it featured thousands of feet of cliff-like highwalls, unstable spoil piles and acres of invasive plants. But a concerted federal effort is working to restore land like this, and find new productive purposes for it.
“If we give the earth the proper amount of care, Mother Nature will come back,” said Jeffrey Clarke, an environmental specialist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources who helped create the restored oasis. “This is a testament to that.”
The newly restored portion of Friendship Park only got that special treatment because it’s part of the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) Program, a unique federal program to reclaim historic mine lands across six Appalachian states and three tribal nations.
Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga points to an in-state meeting he organized with U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary, Deb Halaand, early last year about the need for this program and developing the workforce. "President Biden hasn't forgotten his promises made on the campaign trail. From Day One in office, the Biden Administration has been laser-focused on rebuilding America's infrastructure and investing in every corner of Ohio and the country and this is just another example," said Burga. "The state federation and the unions who will do this work in coordination with the Department of the Interior and Ohio's Department of Natural Resources are excited about improving the communities who will benefit from reclaiming this land."