American chestnuts planted on reclaimed mine site

Contact:  Mark Meade 502-564-2141

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 18, 2008) – Twenty-one third-grade students from Ms. Kelly Gates’ class at Hopkins County Pride Elementary School planted American chestnut seeds on a reclaimed mine site today in celebration of Arbor Day. They were joined by Madisonville Community College students from instructor Terri Tillen’s  Human Ecology class. The students were all taking part in a program called “Operation Springboard” established by The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) and the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI), a state and federal partnership working to replant the forest in Appalachia. 

The mine site, in Hopkins County on the Joseph Fay Britt-White City unit of the Peabody Wildlife Management Area, was mined prior to the establishment of federal mining laws and reclaimed in 2003 under Kentucky’s Abandoned Mine Lands program. Studies by the University of Kentucky and other universities have demonstrated that when reclamation practices are modified to reduce compaction, many species of trees will grow and thrive on reclaimed mine lands.

“We’re happy to be able to partner with The American Chestnut Foundation to help restore American chestnuts to the Kentucky landscape” said Mark Meade with the Kentucky Abandoned Mine Lands program in the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. “By planting chestnut seeds, these students are part of a widespread project that could change the face of Kentucky forests in their lifetimes. That’s pretty exciting.”

Operation Springboard combines the goal of Appalachian reforestation with re-establishment of the once widespread American chestnut tree. The American chestnut tree was once a prominent species in the eastern half of the United States, accounting for nearly 25 percent of all hardwoods within its natural range from Maine to Georgia. In the 1930s, it was attacked in Kentucky by fungus that nearly took it to extinction. The American Chestnut Foundation has been working for 25 years to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut that will be used to repopulate the eastern forests. Since these new trees, known as backcross American chestnuts, will not be available for widespread distribution for several years, pure American chestnut seeds will be used to determine which mine sites will be best for the hybrid trees when they become available in large quantities. This year is the first year of a long-term effort to use mine sites as “springboards” for returning the American chestnut into the Appalachian forests.

Prior to tree planting, Kentucky Division of Forestry staff demonstrated proper tree planting techniques. The Kentucky Division of Abandoned Mine Lands and Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources jointly hosted the event.

Contact Mark Meade in the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands Frankfort office at 502-564-2141 or 502-330-0397 (cell phone) for additional information. You can learn more about Operation Springboard at http://www.coalcreekaml.com/AmericanChestnutOperationSpringboard.htm and the ARRI program at http://arri.osmre.gov/