I failed to mention in the last post that Mountainsaver was with me on the mountaintop removal site in Bob White. We went there because I wanted to get a closer look at a finished valley fill.
When I visit the different mountaintop removal sites, especially for the first time, my emotions are from one end of the spectrum to the other. I’m always anxious to get photos of the site but at the same time I am first dreading and then disgusted by what I see.
A while back Walker/Cat Machinery had a propaganda video which stated life is thriving on mountaintop removal sites. I beg to differ. On this valley fill, birds were not even present.
The scrub brush growing alongside the spillway is Black Locust. It is considered an invasive species.
Black locust has nitrogen-fixing bacteria on its root system; for this reason it can grow on poor soils and is an early colonizer of disturbed areas. From Wikipedia
Valley fills give new meaning to poor soils. In some cases even the hydroseed has a problem growing on a fill. Hydroseed is a mixture of non-native grass seed and fertilizer. It has been termed grass seed on steroids because of it’s ability to grow on nearly anything.
On one of the steps of the fill we came across 4 Fuji apple trees. There is only one reason you will find apple trees planted by the coal company on the side of a valley fill and that is to try and get wildlife back on the fill. I have no doubt that further down the road if the trees were to survive and if they did manage to draw deer onto the fill the coal industry would make a helluva propaganda video showing the deer on the fill conveniently leaving out the fact they were there because of the apple trees. That doesn’t really matter in this case because two of the four trees are already dead and the other two are close to it.
Maybe the coal industry would consider doing a commercial about ticks on valley fills because there were quite a few of those. We walked through one area and Mountainsaver had 14 ticks on his pants. We were knocking them off of us the entire trip up the side of the fill. If I was a deer I would avoid this area for that reason alone. I believe the coal industry has a lot in common with the ticks, both are parasites.
Parasites! LOL! Good comparison, Denny!
It makes me feel very sorry for the folks who live downstream of this valley fill. Not only have this family h been impacted before, but their life will only get worse from all the potential slides we saw, and the amount of water we witnessed during the ten min. rain, which quickly turned into streams flowing down the haul roads and into this valley fill, but also what we saw at the toe of this fill. The sediment ponds looks as tho there going untreated. Just another example of the reclamation laws are NOT being enforced. Good post.
Thanks Nick, I believe the coal industry fits the definition for a parasite even more so than the tick.
I have a post coming up about all the water mountainsaver, just not sure yet what I want to say about it.
it’s really sad and ironic to see those little shriveled apple trees in the middle of that wasteland. makes me wonder if it was some cynic company wonk who planted them or a hopeful resident Jonny Appleseed.
They were definitely planted by the company Folk. There were other trees planted on the fill as well from Maple to Oak - all in various stages of death. I have photos of those for a later post.
There is no doubt in my mind the apple trees were planted to try and attract wildlife back on the fill. They are too secluded to serve any other purpose.
you’d think such an environmentally conscious industry as surface coal mining would be aware of the 100+ years of research on forest succession. It seems that they are not, or they are indifferent to the success of their ‘reclamations’. I have my own suspicions.
Where do you think ticks get their food source…the blood of mammals…deer, racoon, squirrel. If you were covered with ticks that means mammals were recently present at the site.
Sorry Ron but you are so full of crap I can smell it from here. Granted you are right about the food source but wrong about everything else. A tick that has been on an animal recently is a little different from one that has not fed. But if you knew anything like you apparently think you do, you would know that. Better luck next time.
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Although this post wasn’t about ticks I decided to supply a couple of links concerning the feeding habits of ticks. I brought up ticks in this post because the coal industry could use ticks to make a propaganda video about bugs on valley fills and there would actually be a little truth to it as compared to their other videos.
The ticks in question are the hard tick variety.
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/rbkimsey/tickbio.html
http://www.pestproducts.com/ticks1.htm#Tick%20Life%20Cycle%20and%20Habits
Denny, I would stay off private property if I were you. You are tresspassing on coal co. property and you know it. How did you get all the coal mine and prep plant photos? Probably while you were still employed by the coal industry. Now you come off like just another coal comp. case. You got an axe to grind with Massey Coal so you try to do as much damage to the industry as a whole as you can simply because a few enviros pumped up your ego and linked you pages to their sites. The stench is definatly coming from Bolt Mt.
Ron how can you be so sure? Hmmmmmmm? Is all you have to say devoid of content, or are you holding on to the good stuff after you get tired of throwing rocks like a four year old? Let’s hear just why you want to protect this industry?
Because strip mining is good for tick populations? Is that really your best point?
Ron. I moved to W.V. from Ohio 8 years ago. My husband and I live in Mingo County in a hollow surrounded by mountains. Our community has been 4-wheeling this area long before I came here. Massey has been mining the area long before I came here. The first year of adventures, I noticed that there were no birds in the mountains. At that time there were 2 mines being run that we knew of. The 4-wheeling trails were made by those living in our area. Just small paths used frequently. Over the years, our “paths” have been bulldozed, blown up, and/or purposely blocked and mines ( strip mining and mountain top removal) has increased so much that one needs only ride a short distance in any direction to find mining sites. Noone has ever restricted our adventures. The guards at site, on occasion, would advise us of blasting, or direct our path in another direction. Many times, they have moved their heavy equipment to allow us to continue our journey. Getting to the point, your low punches about Denny having worked the mines and about his “trespassing” on private property are out of line. One needs only to ride an unaltered ridge to see the devastation wrought by mountain top removal and strip mining.
To no Ron in particular… Jupiter Coal is a subsidiary of Arch Coal. I’m grinding my ax against the coal industry.
I don’t give a rats ass who links to my site, I’m sending my message via Google.
I have never been employed with a coal company although I have worked extensively on coal company property. As far as I know, it has never been illegal to take pictures.
My biggest problem with mountaintop removal is exactly what you are accusing me of. Trespassing, I’ve always hiked these mountains and now I have to assume if I happen to hike upon a mountaintop removal site I have to run because all of the sudden in the middle of the mountains I’m trespassing. Bullshit. If I can go through the mountains without ever seeing an indication that I cannot then your mountaintop removal sites are fair game as far as I’m concerned. Because there is no doubt I will hike into one.
Ron, you are commenting here because until now I have allowed you to do so. If your sole intention is to bash me I have no problem deleting your comments and or banning you from commenting on this website. If you have a legitimate argument in favor of mountaintop removal I’m all for listening to it. Otherwise…
Believe me, the stench you smell right now, tulips in comparison to the stink I’m going to create.
Ron, you said Denny had taken pictures of coal mines. I didn’t see a single coal mine in any of his pictures. All I saw, was construction workers, blowing up mountains. Coal mines are underground. And what about the coal industry trespassing onto our land, by contaminating our water, and flooding our land with valleyfills behind our homes, blowing houses off their foundations from the blasting. All this from mountaintop removal, regardless who’s doing it, so don’t even bring the trespassing shit up. Denny is just letting everyone know, to what he already knows about what is going on here, because if everyone else knowed what he knows, you or the coal industry, wouldn’t be doing what you all are doing