Conservation, government groups make progress in watershed project

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June 10, 2009

By DUANE NOLLEN The Oskaloosa Herald Wed Jun 10, 2009, 09:23 AM CDT

BEACON — Reclaiming land and protecting waterways from runoff contaminated by abandoned coal mines is a team effort, and several organizations gathered Tuesday morning just outside Beacon for a field day to celebrate those efforts.

Conservation and government groups gathered at the Westercamp Reclamation Project, about 1 mile west of Beacon, to celebrate work in the Muchakinock Creek Watershed Project.

The Westercamp Reclamation Project is an 80-acre abandoned surface coal mine site that four organizations are teaming up to clean and restore for use by landowners. The organizations are the Iowa Department of Agriculture, the Office of Surface Mining, Pathfinders RC&D; and the Mahaska Soil and Water Conservation District. The site was divided into two sections; the westside was completed this past year and work continues on the eastside.

“It’s just amazing to look at. This looks wonderful compared to a year ago,” Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said at the field day.

Mahaska Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner Joe Blunk said the Muchakinock Creek Watershed was designated a “priority watershed” to Mahaska County in January 1997. Work began on the Westercamp project in February 2005.

Abandoned coal mines in the area contaminated water and soil with acids that found their way into the 50,000 acres of the Muchakinock Creek Watershed. The four organizations applied for and received $1.7 million in grants to fund work in the area.

Blunk said that since 2006 there have been six sites with 344 acres in the area that has been included in reclamation efforts. Also, Soil and Water Conservation District officials have helped dozens of landowners with emplacing 121,000 feet of terraces since 2005. Those terraces protect 960 acres in the watershed and reduce runoff by 870 tons per year.

Mahaska County Supervisor Willie Van Weelden said that Pathfinders RC&D; applied for and secured $100,000 for the reclamation project.

“We do primarily little projects in rural areas,” he said of Pathfinders’ efforts.

Todd Coffelt, chief of the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s Mines and Minerals Bureau, said to the audience at the field day that they were standing in the middle of the reclamation project. A lot of work has been done.

“We have done water quality. We have done flood control,” he said.

Coffelt said that there were several bodies of water in the project area with acidic runoff, and they have been reduced to one, and the quality of its runoff water has improved immensely.

The goal of the reclamation project is to make the abandoned mine sites stable and useful to local landowners.

Herald Editor Duane Nollen can be reached by email at oskynews@oskyherald.com