Native grasses look promising on strip-mine land
The one-acre patch of prairie in southern Ohio was a cause for celebration.
Insects hummed. Tiny saplings sprouted toward the sky. A flat, browning landscape surrounded the oasis, where switchgrass stood tall and bright yellow wildflowers brought smiles to the environmental specialists surveying the scene.
Perhaps someday the abandoned strip mine in northern Jackson County could be completely reborn,
filled with foliage native to Ohio for the first time in decades.
“It’s quite challenging, to get lush vegetation growing on something that once looked like the surface of the moon,” said Rebecca Swab, director of restoration ecology at The Wilds, a conservation center in Cumberland, about 70 miles southeast of Columbus.
Her research suggests Midwest prairie plants could speed up the process.
The state, with help from The Wilds and Ohio State University soil microbiologists, is now testing the theory on six experimental acres at three former coal stripmining sites: Rose Valley in Belmont County, Joyce Hill in Tuscarawas County and Middleton Run, the site in Jackson County.
The group planted native seeds in 2014 and 2015 and has been surveying them annually each August.
The goal is to inspire new industry standards for abandoned mine reclamation throughout Ohio.
Many sites have sat vacant for decades, deserted prior to 1970s laws mandating companies infill and replant them to prevent erosion and harmful acid-mine drainage. The state is working to restore the deserted lands, typically using federal funds from severance taxes imposed on companies.
To do so, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Mineral Resource Management currently sows a traditional mix of affordable and fast-growing but almost entirely exotic plants.
The division reclaimed 10,000 acres with that mix between 2013 and 2016, including the three testing sites.
But ecologists like Swab say native grasses and blooming flowers, like those at The Wilds, could better benefit wildlife, especially pollinators. Their deep roots may also restore damaged soil to its original condition faster.
The state’s decision to forgo those plants was partially due to cost, but also because of a lack of research about whether native plants could survive the harsh landscape.
Then The Wilds offered some insight.
“I see The Wilds as a bridge between the researchers and the land managers who can make change happen,” Swab said. “It’s really exciting to make this sort of a large-scale impact.”
Though The Wilds is best known for its 1,200-acre safari park exhibiting rare and endangered animals, the rest of its 8,000 acres is dedicated to native conservation, including a prairie plant project.
Its restoration ecologists have grown a variety of native plants on 700 acres of harsh terrain. The property was mined for coal for decades by the largest dragline on Earth, the Big Muskie, until it was idled in 1991.
All soil changes very slowly, usually over thousands of years, but former mine sites pose a variety of challenges, said Ohio State soil microbiologists Richard Dick and Nicola Lorenz, who are surveying the state’s three test sites.
Moving top soil disturbs the microscopic organisms like bacteria and fungi that help plants thrive. Mined soil is also extremely compact — sometimes so hard it breaks soil probes used to test its quality, Lorenz said.
That makes it difficult for plants, especially trees, to spread roots and grow.
But if it’s left without vegetation, the barren land erodes, often releasing harmful acidmine drainage into nearby waterways.
That was the case at Middleton Run, a 60-acre site where drainage had made nearby Raccoon Creek uninhabitable for fish. The fish are slowly returning after it was reclaimed using $1.3 million in federal funds and $300,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Because the three test sites are now privately owned, the state and The Wilds had to get approval from their owners to return and sow the native seed mix. They also let Dick and Lorenz return periodically to take soil samples for their lab.
The owners happily agreed after hearing the benefits to wildlife.
While it’s still too early to detect any significant changes, the results above ground have been encouraging.
“It really has been a win-win for everyone involved,” said Kaabe Shaw, the state environmental specialist overseeing the Middleton Run project.
If the prairies continue to thrive, the group hopes to offer the new seed mix as a wildlife-friendly option to former mine-property owners. One Jackson County man has already approved using it on an entire 15-acre site later this year, Shaw said.
And the group is discovering more ways to make it an affordable option.
While native seeds are more expensive than standard, nonnative ones, they require less fertilizer and fewer seeds to fill an acre. One acre typically receives 50 pounds of standard seed, costing $443.50 with fertilizer included, Shaw said. Comparatively, 30 pounds of native seed and fertilizer costs about $467.
He’s still perfecting the mix, though, and says 15 pounds could be sufficient. If so, that would only cost $319 an acre, including fertilizer.
Spreading awareness about the benefits of native plants also could inspire change by encouraging people to plant them in their own yards, Swab said.
“We give away milkweed seeds at The Wilds so people can provide habitats for Monarch butterflies at their homes,” she said. “It’s such a simple thing, but if everyone does it, it makes a big difference.”