Surface mineland reclamation and reforestation using broiler litter as a soil amendment

摘要

A project was recently completed which reduced nonpoint source water pollution in an Alabama surface mine land reclamation project using broiler litter. The project, which began in 1994, focused on a portion of the Sunlight Mine in Walker County, Alabama, owned by Drummond Company, Inc., an Alabama-based coal mining and marketing corporation. The ten-acre site is located on Blackwater Creek, a tributary of the Upper Black Warrior River, a watershed classified as "impaired" by the Environmental Protection Agency. The overall purpose of the Sunlight Mine Project was to insure long-term revegetation and reforestation with elimination of nonpoint source water pollution in the site watershed area. The mine site was last actively worked in the 1960s andhad not previously been reclaimed, although the Drummond Company had continued to manage the site in compliance with EPA and other regulations.