ODNR reclaiming cliffs in Powelson Wildlife area

ZANESVILLE – The rugged legacy of mining done a half-century ago still lingers in the Powelson Wildlife area north of Zanesville.

Thousands of feet of highwall — cliffs left from strip mining — line roads throughout the popular hunting area. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is the midst of reclaiming the area and eliminating some of the worst highwalls along Dresden Road. The $1.2 million project is supported by the Abandoned Mine Land fund.

“It is a public safety issue” said Bill Jonard, of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Resources Management, as some of these highwalls are just 10 feet from the edge of the road.

“It’s beneficial to anyone who wants to use the site.”

The problems stem from mining done in the 1950s, before the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 required coal companies to restore strip mined areas to close to its original contours. Prior to the act, strip mining left towering cliffs along roadways and huge piles of spoils. When coal companies were finished mining, they just walked away and the land was allowed to revert to forest. The act included the creation of the Abandoned Mine Land fund to help clean up mine lands abandoned before the act was passed.

The reclaiming project got underway in October, when the 44-acre parcel of land was clearcut. Logging continued through the winter and the project is now moving toward regrading the land. Dirt and spoils from the rest of the parcel will be pushed toward the cliffs to create gentle slopes instead of steep drops. The state received $101,000 from the sale of timber on the parcel, which will be placed in the Division of Wildlife’s budget and used for wildlife conservation, according to Chris Smith, of the Division of Wildlife. Most of the lumber was destined for the Glatfelter paper mill in Chillicothe.

There are no traffic counts available for Dresden Road along the reclaimed area, either through the Muskingum County Engineer’s Office or the State of Ohio. Falls Township Fire Department has no record of any incidents involving highwalls. The department began covering that area in 2010,

There still more than 23,000 linear feet of highwall hidden in the thick woods of Powelson, Jonard said. Most of highwall that falls into category one (that which is within 10 feet of a road) in the Powelson area will be taken care of in the current project. Roughly a third of all category two highwall (highwall that is within 40 feet of a road where vehicles are able to travel 40 miles per hour) is in the parcel of land being reclaimed. More highwall is across Dresden Road from the area being reclaimed, a part of the project put on hold for monetary reasons. Other reclamation along Dresden, Rock Cut and Ellis Dam roads will have to wait to see if the projects are budgeted for work after funding requests are submitted in the fall.

The hunting area is used by deer hunters from around the state and further away, but any negative affects on deer will be short lived. “The land is going to be seeded to grass, trees will come in in time” said Assistant Wildlife Management Supervisor Chris Smith. “New forest is equally beneficial as mature forest, there is a great deal of wildlife that benefits from timber harvesting and having that new forest come in. Deer can utilize mature woodland, but young forest, or cutover forest is going to benefit deer because there is cover, it creates a food source. There is young woody vegetation to browse.”

A smaller logging project nearby on Ellis Dam Road is being used to create habitat diversity, Smith said.

ccrook@gannett.com

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