The truth is, elk are fat and healthy on today's reclaimed mine sites. But with a few basic changes in reclamation, we could create great habitat for songbirds, grouse, quail, and a host of other wildlife-and the elk would be even fatter and happier.

We were still more than a little bleary-eyed, but that quickly faded as we boarded the Ranger helicopter with Karen. I had always heard a helicopter flew by beating the air into submission. I’d also heard it reminded some folks of an old hay baler that looks like it’s about to fly apart. Those thoughts crossed my mind as the pilot flew the machine in tight circles to help Karen pinpoint an elk calf about 60 feet below us.

Our two-hour flight over the eastern Kentucky coalfields provided spectacular views of elk and other wildlife, coalmines and mine reclamation practices. The view from the helicopter showed a patchwork of forests, active coalmines, newly reclaimed mines, and mines that were reclaimed many years ago. This mosaic disappeared into the horizon in every direction; and without this bird’s eye view, it is hard to comprehend the scale and complexity of the coalfields.

Karen was busy noting newborn calves, but the main purpose of the trip was to give Jim his first look at Kentucky elk country. The lands below us lay right in the heart of the Elk Foundation’s ambitious Appalachian Wildlife Initiative. By the end of the flight we had spotted about 200 elk, 20 white-tailed deer, 15 wild turkeys, several hawks, and even flushed some quail while circling low, looking for calves.

The day before, on June 23, 2005, Jim and I had taken part in the Mine Reclamation for Wildlife Summit hosted by the federal Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement. More than 200 policy makers, conservation groups, coal mining companies, fish and wildlife agency representatives and university-affiliated scientists from 14 states, including West Virginia, New Mexico, Wyoming and Ohio, filled the ballroom of the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Our goal was to identify and address issues standing between reclaimed mine sites and high-quality wildlife habitat. The summit was the culmination of months of work by the Elk Foundation and its partners to bring all parties to the table to figure out how the mining industry could improve its reclamation practices to provide better habitat for elk and other wildlife.

“We see an opportunity to build upon the reclamation successes of the past and take them to the next level—an opportunity to change the way we look at reclamation and thereby the way we look at coal mining,” says Jeff Jarrett, director of the Office of Surface Mining. “The number of new faces, representing interests that previously hadn’t attended a mining-related conference, was exciting and inspiring. All of these folks, interested in the reclamation of mined land, engaged in an open and honest discussion regarding the promise that reclaimed mine lands hold.”

In fall 2003, the Elk Foundation and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources began the process of developing and implementing a landscape-scale habitat conservation plan for the state’s 4.1 million-acre, 16-county elk restoration zone. We held our first planning meeting the following summer. Partners who have jumped on board since include the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources, Department of Abandoned Mine Lands, U.S. Forest Service, University of Kentucky, Office of Surface Mining and Kentucky Coal Association, and a growing number of mining and land companies.

One of the primary conservation targets identified through this process was to improve habitat on already reclaimed mine lands. As elk were released into southeastern Kentucky from 1997 to 2002—the first to roam there in more than 150 years—many were fitted with radio collars to help biologists monitor and study their movements. They collected more than 20,000 radio locations from 450 collared elk. The data clearly demonstrated that elk spent the majority of their time either on or near reclaimed mine lands and tended to avoid large areas of closed canopy forest. This really did not surprise anybody, but it drove home the fact that the Elk Foundation needed to form some strong partnerships with the mining industry, paying particular attention to how we might reclaim this historic country where Daniel Boone once hunted elk.

I am a wildlife biologist, and before going to work for the Elk Foundation I spent most of my career specializing in habitat management and restoration for species such as white-tailed deer, northern bobwhite quail, wild turkeys, red-cockaded woodpeckers, waterfowl, ruffed grouse and everything else that was desired by the landowners with whom I worked. After spending a good bit of time on the ground looking at habitat on reclaimed mines, it became apparent to me that with some changes in reclamation practices, the coalfields could produce a bounty of wildlife. Currently coalmining companies are doing exactly what the law requires. But I have always been somewhat of a rebel, and I figured it might be time to change the rules.

For a good while after the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act became law in 1977, reclamation practices involved extreme soil compaction and planting vegetation such as Kentucky 31 fescue, Serecea lespedeza, autumn olive, black locust and other light seeded (seeds dispersed by wind) tree species. Much of the focus in the late 1970s and early ‘80s was on agricultural reclamation for grazing cattle and horses. Fescue and Serecea lespedeza were just two of the “miracle” forages promoted as boons to agriculture. Time has proven they are far from miraculous as grazing forage and downright noxious when it comes to wildlife. Nobody knows the exact numbers, but thousands of acres of surface mines were reclaimed with this undesirable vegetation.

The Elk Foundation and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are working together to restore high-quality habitat to some of these old reclaimed mine sites. In 2004, the department received an $862,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore habitat on private lands for imperiled species. To qualify for the grant, the department had to come up with a non-federal match. The Elk Foundation agreed to provide a $400,000 match to this grant spread over three years. Together, we are eradicating fescue and Serecea, and replacing them with native grasses, forbs, trees and shrubs. In other words, we are spending $200 to $400 per acre to kill everything that was planted during reclamation, and replant with native vegetation that provides high quality wildlife habitat.While all of this work is being done in the name of “imperiled” grassland and shrub-scrub songbirds, the elk, deer, turkeys, quail, grouse, rabbits, snakes, cotton rats and bobcats that share the habitat will benefit from it, too.

Putting together this $1.2 million pool of money to reclaim the reclamation sites made us ask the obvious question: How can we get the best habitat established the first time around, and avoid having to come back later to kill everything and start all over again?

In 1995 the State of Kentucky published new guidelines for the post-mining land use of fish and wildlife habitat. This document was an improvement in that Kentucky 31 fescue and Serecea lespedeza were struck from the list of acceptable vegetation for reclamation projects. The guidelines include a list of about 40 grass and forb species and about 40 tree and shrub species from which to choose to create habitat for wildlife. There is broad guidance on species selection and planting patterns. It dictates that at least 30 percent of the mine site be planted in trees. The document was intended to be very general and basic. It achieved that objective.

Although the 1995 document provided a large and varied list of specific grasses, forbs, trees and shrubs to plant for wildlife habitat, most of the plantings done under this guideline are nearly identical. Grasses and forbs usually consist of orchard grass, clovers, vetch, winter wheat, timothy and kobe lespedeza. With this mix, companies have good success at achieving the 80 to 90 percent ground cover that is required for bond release. It also provides a good food plot for deer, and elk get fat on this mix, too. However, it does little for most other wildlife and particularly fails to provide the structure, cover and food that songbirds, quail and grouse need.

Now you might be wondering why the Elk Foundation is concerned with mine reclamation if the elk on these reclaimed mine sites are fat and happy. The truth is they are fat and happy. Elk reproductive rates are sky-high, body weights are very high, and they are doing great under current reclamation guidelines. However, the Elk Foundation is not completely elk-centric. Our mission is to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat. In the case of mine reclamation, if we create habitat that is good for songbirds, grouse, quail and turkeys, the elk will still be fat and happy. We can have it all.

Current guidelines require that at least 30 percent of the landscape be planted with trees. However, there might be occasions where a much larger area should be planted with trees, or where no trees should be planted at all. It depends on the wildlife objective of the landowner and the landscape context in which one is operating.

A major on-the-ground barrier to creating good wildlife habitat arises from how the soil on reclaimed mines is prepared prior to planting. Extreme soil compaction is the common practice. This became the standard method many years ago in misguided attempts to prevent soil erosion in a region that receives 48 inches of rain per year. The thinking was that if you made the soil as hard as concrete, rain would not wash it away. The problem is most native trees, shrubs and many grasses and forbs don’t flourish on a cement-like substrate. Research done by the University of Kentucky demonstrates the very opposite—loose soil preparation is highly conducive to tree growth. This loose soil, combined with all the roots holding it in place, soaks up rain, thus actually reducing runoff. Test plots planted with trees on loosely dumped soil demonstrated not only tremendous tree growth, but have been naturally colonized by native grasses and forbs as well.

This is the direction we need to go: loose-dumped soil planted with native warm- and cool-season grasses and forbs interspersed with corridors and patches of native trees and shrubs, including oaks, black cherry, hickories, maples, poplars, persimmon, blueberry, dogwood, Virginia pine, hemlock and others. Another exciting opportunity coming within five years will be the restoration of chestnut trees to the landscape. The great American chestnut—which once stood in stately groves of trees 120 feet tall and 10 feet thick at chest-height—fell to an exotic fungus in the early 20th century. Through years of research and genetic engineering, scientists have developed fungus-resistant chestnut trees. Large-scale planting will begin as soon as seedlings become available.

With all this said, most of the reclaimed mines are not biological deserts. If you spend time on these mines, you will see elk, deer, turkeys, yellow-breasted chats, grasshopper sparrows, golden-winged warblers, northern bobwhite quail, Henslow’s sparrows, northern harriers, red-tailed hawks and other wildlife. These animals are here in spite of marginal habitats, once again demonstrating the resiliency of nature. However, every biologist I know agrees that if we changed the soil preparation, vegetation composition and planting patterns, populations of these species would be much higher.

While no hard decisions were made at the Mine Reclamation for Wildlife Summit on how best to make wildlife habitat the preferred post-mining land-use, instead of the long‑standing trend of reclaiming land primarily for agriculture, the obstacles were clearly identified. Speaker after speaker cited the above issues as problems. Other barriers to consider include the mining industry’s need and desire for technical guidance in planning and implementing wildlife habitat reclamation projects, inconsistent reclamation guidelines from state to state, unrealistic success standards, lack of habitat specificity for different species, liability issues and concerns about future land uses.

The most exciting thing that occurred at this summit was a sincere desire shared by the Department of Interior, the Office of Surface Mining, the state mining and wildlife agencies, and the mining and coal companies to make progress. During the afternoon, attendees broke into small groups to share concerns and discuss ideas. Mining industry representatives were very active and provided valuable insight.

“OSM and industry came away very enthusiastic about the opportunities with the wildlife community,” says assistant secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson. “There is true belief in the partnership potential on this issue of post‑mining land use for wildlife. To be sure there are hurdles to overcome, but there is a sense that together we can work through them.”

At the end of the day we came out of the meeting with a clearer understanding. We thought we knew the issues before the summit, but sharing and discussing them with the experts cemented them in our minds. To move forward now, we need to revise reclamation guidelines, provide good technical assistance, and come up with incentives to make wildlife habitat the preferred or default post-mining land use.

Most importantly, we need to keep dialogue open and flowing between the summit participants. Nobody working alone has the ability to make the changes that are needed to benefit wildlife. Together, though, we can make a difference.

“I don’t think we’re at the point yet where we know all the answers,” Jarrett says, “but we are starting to ask the right questions. The challenge is not just creating wildlife habitat, it’s bringing together the partners to make it happen.”

The benefits to revising mine reclamation for wildlife are huge. Abundant wildlife populations should lead to the creation of wildlife and outdoor-recreation tourism industries—industries that may provide much needed economic development and diversity in the coalfields and in the communities that support them. We have a great opportunity to do something beneficial not only for wildlife but also for the mining industry and the people who call this country home.

“I am looking forward to the day when everyone recognizes that reclamation is not a chore—it’s an opportunity,” Jarrett says, “one we can’t afford to squander. All of us who care about the environment need to ensure that mine reclamation results in a sustainable environment, economy and society for today and the future. That’s what we’re getting at, reclaiming the future.”