Watershed restoration and reclamation of abandoned mine lands are some of the most important activities for our project. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is water that is affected by passage through, or alteration by, coal or abandoned coal mine environments, and it is the biggest problem we face in our watershed. The US EPA has identified AMD is the number one problem affecting water quality in Appalachia. The Office of Surface Mining concurs and suggests that southeast Ohio contains some of the most seriously AMD-impacted streams in the United States. Monday Creek is the third most severely AMD polluted stream in the State of Ohio. Contamination by AMD lowers water quality and impairs aquatic life, leaving streams unfit for fishing or swimming.

Eliminating Acid Mine Drainage

Reducing or eliminating acid mine drainage is costly and difficult. Controlling mine drainage can happen by either treating water after it leaves a mine (treatment) or preventing the acid from being produced to begin with (source control). The Monday Creek Restoration Project is utilizing a wide variety of best available technologies tailored to meet individual site needs. Some AMD reclamation sites the group is addressing and a few additional restoration activities are described and pictured below.

Majestic Mine

The Majestic Mine complex lies on US Forest Service land and contributes significant amounts of AMD to the creek channel just 1/2 mile from its confluence with the Hocking River. Subsidences dot the valley floor near the site and clean surface water pours into the underground mine works. This clean water mixes with coal underground and exits through the mouth of the old mine at a pH of approximately 4.0. This low pH indicates high acidity, and prevents fish and other aquatic species from traveling upstream from this site to repopulate other portions of the stream. Reclamation at this site is expected to reduce the flow of polluted water by 40%. The remaining flow will be treated by other methods.

Rock Run/ Seven Chimneys

Located in Southern Perry County, this thirteen acre abandoned gob pile contributes high levels of both heavy metals and acidity to Rock Run. Gob is a local term for coal mining waste including shale, sandstone and clay as well as high levels of impurities that pollute creeks and streams.

Streambank Stabilization

In 1997, volunteers from Hocking College and Rural Action, the Hocking Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Ohio EPA and ODNR-Division of Wildlife worked on an experimental streambank stabilization project along a rapidly eroding portion of Monday Creek. In cooperation with a private landowner in Carbon Hill, we placed hardwood tree revetments at the toe of the bank and graded it back from a sheer ten-foot drop to a 2:1 grade. In the spring of 1998, students from Miller High School cut willow trees into posts and planted them at the site. The area was seeded with grass on top of the slope to prevent further erosion from occurring. This site is being periodically monitored. So far, the vegetation has taken hold and is preventing further erosion.

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After:

Tree Planting

Over the past two years, volunteers have planted over 17,000 trees on greater than 22 acres of abandoned mine lands and reclaimed surface in hopes of reducing erosion and revegetating the watershed. Over two hundred volunteers have planted a collection of hardwood trees including ash, red oak, white oak, schumard oak, and sycamore as well as pine trees on several gob piles.

Litter Pick-ups

Local organizations host a yearly 'stream sweep' to clean up stream trash. To date, over two hundred people have participated in these clean-ups and have picked up many tons of trash.

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