Naig visits coal mine reclamation project near Eddyville

May 18—EDDYVILLE — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig made a stop in Wapello County to check the progress of an abandoned coal mine reclamation project Tuesday.

The Patrick AML Reclamation Project, located east of 165th street on Eddyville farmland, is an abandoned coal mine site that primarily supplied coal to a large railroad system in the area in the 1800s. The mine spans about 48 acres in size.

The project is part of the Abandoned Mine Land Program, which aims to "mitigate environmentally hazardous land features created by abandoned surface coal mines." The program is managed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship — Division of Soil Conservation and receives funding from the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management.

According to the Mines and Minerals Bureau, Iowa has more than 300 AML sites, which equates to more than 13,000 acres of abandoned coal mines that affect the landscape, primarily in southeast Iowa. These sites usually include bare acidic soils that pollute water through erosion and sedimentation; dangerous high walls, embankments, pit ponds and piles; and polluted water used for human and agriculture consumption.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship — Division of Soil Conservation, Mines and Minerals Bureau, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Pathfinders RC&D, Inc., with the help of project engineer LT Leon Associates, Inc., are working to restore this area to its natural state — or as close to it as possible.

"We want to mitigate features that are hazardous to human health and safety. We don't want someone to come out here and die," said David Suchan, environmental specialist senior, Mines and Minerals Bureau, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. "Some of our sites have 30-40 foot drop-offs of some timber, and if you're trespassing or doing something you're not familiar with, especially at night, you could get hurt really bad or die."

Restoration work includes about 381,000 cubic yards of excavation, pit dewatering and backfill, clearing and grubbing, grading, construction of a drainage channel, terraces, intakes, storm sewer, fencing, erosion control, about 37.6 acres of permanent seeding and 8 acres of wetland fringe seeding. Estimated total construction costs of the project range between $1.12 million and $1.23 million.

"We'll try to create a scab over the site, essentially," Suchan said. "The top 12 inches will be covered with mulch, fertilizer, agricultural lime or lime sludge to help neutralize the pH of the soil ... Our end goal is if you drive by on the road and look over in this area, it will look like a pasture."

Calvin and Amy Van Genderen, one of two other family farms that own parcels of land in the reclamation site, plan to have their cattle graze the fields once the project is complete. Work on the project began in October 2021 and is scheduled for completion in December of this year.

"We sure hope that this can be returned to something useful," Naig said. "It's gonna take a lot of management. You can't just go back to what it was. You're not going to grow corn here. But it can be managed ... You do that, and you can really find it useful."

The AML program has completed several other reclamation projects throughout the state, including the DeRonde site in Mahaska County and Muchakinock Creek. The program currently has two other active construction sites for reclamation projects, with three more on the horizon this fall.

"We think it's a wonderful project and a good example of working together with landowners to do that work," Naig said. "We're looking to expand, and we should see some additional federal dollars that are coming to this program, as much as three times our current budget. It's going to allow us to do more work, so we're excited about that."

Emily Hawk is the associate editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. She can be reached at ehawk@oskyherald.com.