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Utilizing Abandoned Mine Lands for Education & Recreation: STEM Learning tools for Pennsylvania Mine Lands Restoration.
Type of Session
Poster Presentation
Abstract
This poster offers strategy to use a wetland boardwalk within accessible abandoned mine land (AML) sites in Pennsylvania as a progressive STEM teaching device. It suggests ways to involve community members, including youth, in the ongoing restoration and monitoring of potentially high quality wetlands affected by mine drainage. We believe that developing high profile boardwalk access, hiking trails, and continuous water monitoring within a presently impaired “park” site can garner additional community support for reclamation efforts. Coalfield community stakeholders can be included and encouraged in STEM education fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. According to the Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (AMLIS) over 1.5 million Pennsylvanians live within a mile of an AML site. Land reclamation costs presently stand in excess of 5 billion dollars in the Commonwealth alone. Many once prosperous cities and patch-towns in the region now have inherited the effects of legacy mining; environmental degradation and poor socioeconomic conditions that are pervasive in coalfield communities throughout Central Appalachia. Since 1977, the Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act (SMRCA) has required mining companies to reclaim their operations. Pre-1977 mine lands, however, remain in their degraded state. “Restorations” that do occur usually happen on privately owned sites where public input, inclusion, or education is rarely considered. The strategy presented here suggests a pilot experiential learning opportunity for groups partnering with respected STEM institutions like the Smithsonian and the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation. Our poster describes the structure and role of boardwalk access, the role of the public in real-time monitoring, photography, and (iphone-based) record-keeping, as well as an example of potential restoration methodology using solar-driven bubble (oxygenation) technology associated with boardwalk accessible areas.