The weather didn't cooperate very well this morning and we were forced to remain in the vans as we toured Joe Knob. Part of the site was still being mined (mountain-top renewal). It was interesting to see the operation up close. It looks a lot different than it does from below. It was kind of sad to see the mountain being torn apart by heavy machinery. Then we saw the reclaimed portion of land that had already been mined. While it was far from perfect, it was nice to see that they have been able to make it look a lot closer to normal. One of the biggest problems is that the vegetation is not very diverse. There are very few types of trees, grass, etc... But it is obvious that they have worked to try to restore things. I was disappointed we weren't able to get out of the vans and do some water quality tests. It would have been interesting to see how it compared to Yellow Creek which has naturally been reclaimed and has a greater diversity of plant life nearby.
Nuttallburg:
Nuttallburg is a former coal camp on the bank of the New River. We tested some run-off from the mountain and the water quality was actually pretty good. The pH was 6.5 and the overall quality was 72.2 which falls at the low end of "Good Water Quality" on the scale. That was the highest score that we have gotten this week. It was also neat to see the foundations of some of the houses that still stood on the mountain side.
New River Gorge Bridge:
A nice surprise today was a stop at the New River Gorge Bridge. I have rafted the New River several times and been over the bridge a lot, but the great size of the bridge never ceases to amaze me! It was also really neat to visit the site with some "newbies" that had never been there as well as some "natives" that grew up in the area. The van conversations were quite interesting involving the history of the area (both distant and recent past).
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