Using Reclaimed Coal Mines to Enhance
Natural Resource Education
“Environmental education” is not a concept that
is commonly associated with coal mining. However, experience at the Powell
River Project Research and
Figure 1. The location of Powell River Project’s Research
and
The Powell River Project is a program of Virginia
Tech, begun in 1980, that also involves major landowners, coal companies,
mine regulatory agencies, interested citizens, and other educational institutions.
One corporate landowner, Penn Virginia Resources Partners LP, has made available
1,100 acres to the Powell River Project for long term research and education
activities concerning mined land management and restoration. The site is comprised
of comprised of areas mined for coal prior to the Surface Mining Control
and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), lands mined and reclaimed since SMCRA, and forested
lands managed for timber production. The site also contains an operating
network of natural gas wells and pipelines, roadways utilized for coal haulage
from active mines, and mine reclamation research and demonstration sites
established through Powell River Project. Some of the research projects established
in 1980 are now 25 years old, making them among the longest-running reclamation
research sites in the
Within view at the Center are reclaimed mines of
various ages, current surface and underground mines, and coal refuse disposal.
When entering the Center, visitors cross a rail line and are often able
to see unit trains in the process of being loaded. Activities on the reclaimed
mine areas include cattle grazing, demonstrations of horticultural products,
and areas that have been reforested with both hardwoods and pines. The site
presents opportunities to teach students about natural resources – both
the non-renewable and renewable varieties - land and water restoration,
and methods for restoring land and water resources affected by coal mining.
Figure 2.
Powell River Project Research and
Powell River Project Education programming for local schools has evolved
in response to those opportunities, aiming to use student visits to the mine
site as an integral component of their pre-college educational experience,
one that has a direct connection to the economic livelihood of the community
that they call home. Programs for local schools began in the mid 1980s. Early
programs were intended simply to expose students to surface mining and reclamation,
in response to the observation that many students from those communities –
even those with a parent working on the coal mines – were not familiar with
coal mining. Such “field trips” proved quite popular with students and teachers,
especially on beautiful spring and fall days. During the 1990s, however, we
realized that these visits could do much more than “show” the students mining
and reclamation, and we began working with teachers to develop methods for
integrating PRP-REC visits into their instructional activities so as to aid
educational achievement in the classroom.
Today, education programs at PRP-REC are not just
a break from the usual school day – they are structured learning activities
that reinforce in-school curricula addressing Virginia Standards of Learning
(SOLs), state-mandated standards of academic achievement that students must
surpass in order to move to the next grade level (Table
1). Education programs at the Center are targeted and tailored to individual
SOLs established for specific grade levels.
For example, the PRP-REC coordinates with the local
school system to conduct fall and spring 4-H Outdoor Classroom field trips
for 4th grade students. A number of SOLs are addressed with the
students simply by walking, looking, and talking about what is right there
on the reclaimed mine site. Such walks typically begin by addressing Virginia
SOL 4.4 - Life Processes, which require students to understand the structure
of green plants and the role of photosynthesis. These topics are addressed
by viewing the grasses, shrubs, and trees that grow in abundance on the reclaimed
mine site, and talking about structural differences among plant types.
Such a lesson is typically followed by SOL 4.5 –
Living Systems. This unit focuses on how plants and animals interact with
the environment’s non-living components, such as water, soil, and sun, to
form ecosystems. Specific learning objectives concern the “flow of energy
through food webs,” and “habitats and niches.” Birds are abundant on the REC
site, and evidence of earth-bound wildlife (rodents, groundhogs, fox, bear
…) is often encountered during these visits, which allows these learning objectives
to be addressed by using what the students are able to see and hear. This
SOL unit also requires that students understand “the influence of human activity
on ecosystems,” providing an opportunity to address the manner in which active
coal mines, such as those which are visible in the distance, can be transformed
into the productive landscapes they are experiencing at the Center. Since
“seeing is believing,” these visits allow the students to
learn much more about the process of mined-land reclamation, including legal
and ethical dimensions natural resource management as exemplified by the
reclamation process, than would be possible in the classroom. This lesson
often leads to discussion of SOL Unit 4.8 – Resources, which includes learning
objectives related to “watershed and water resources,” “animals and plants,”
and “forests, soil, and land.”
The above examples describe activities related to
4th grade SOLs. Education programs are also tailored to other grade
levels, local high schools. For example, the PRP-REC provided leadership in
organizing Natural Resource Awareness Days (NRAD), a joint project with the
local school system, the Chamber of Commerce, and local offices of state environmental
agencies. All 6th grade students spent the day at the PRP-REC
rotating through thirteen “learning stations,” each of which was located
to exemplify an SOL and was targeted toward one or more 6th grade
SOL learning objectives (Figure 3). At the end of the day students had opportunity
for more informal discussion with the professionals, to follow up with what
was learned. It has proved easier to provide this type of environmental education
program in a group setting than for teachers to try to identify appropriate
speakers and find a mutually convenient time for them to come to the classroom.
This was a win-win situation for all involved.
Figure 3. John Schoolcraft, Alpha Natural Resources, introduces
students to natural resource management issues at Powell River Project Research
and
In addition to the 4th and 6th grade programs
the PRP-REC is the research site host for the
Figure 4. Virginia Tech students, working with Dr. A.O. Abaye,
collect and identify samples of vegetation growing on the reclaimed mine
areas of the Powell River Project Research and
Figure 4. Virginia Tech students, working with Dr. A.O. Abaye,
collect and identify samples of vegetation growing on the reclaimed mine
areas of the Powell River Project Research and
Figure 5. Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent Jon
Rockett communicates with Virginia Tech students at the Powell River Project
Research and
Discussion with teachers reveals that the items
covered at the PRP-REC are vividly recalled when referenced by classroom
discussion. Some teachers have remarked that discussion of watersheds is
especially effective. A mountain ridge runs from northwest to southeast across
the PRP-REC. A landscape comprised of active mining disturbances, reclaimed
lands, undisturbed forests, roads, and homes are visible from the ridge.
A walk to the top of the ridgeline where the land drops off sharply to either
side, with discussion of what can be seen below, makes the concept of watershed
divides clear in the student’s minds. The fact that teachers voluntarily
return to the Center year after year, class after class, is evidence of the
outdoor education programs’ effectiveness.
Use of reclaimed mined lands at PRP-REC for natural
resource education has proved both popular and enduring. Since these programs
began in 1988, more than 30,000 visits by students and teachers from local
grammar schools, high schools, and colleges have been recorded that the
Center, and many teachers return regularly. Outdoor educational activities
at PRP-REC have developed into an integral component of natural resource
education programs for Wise County (VA) public schools.
Table 1. Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) addressed
in educational presentations at Powell River Project Research and
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4th Grade |
6th Grade |
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c) flow of energy through food webs d) habitats and niches f) influence of human activity on ecosystems b) the causes for the Earth’s seasons a) watershed and water resources b) animals and plants d) forests, soil, and land |
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