—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, September 30. 1972
6
Conservation Reclaims Strip-Mine Devastation
Washington, Sept. 14 Sur
face-mined land can be tran
sformed from a hazardous
eyesore into acreage useful for
many farm or community pur
poses, USDA Soil Conservation
Service Administrator Kenneth
E. Grant said recently.
More than 10,000 private lan
downers reclaimed over a third
of a million acres from 1965-71
alone, Grant said. He cited recent
SCS reports from each state
showing that landowners and
mine operators had reclaimed a
total of 338,000 acres in the seven
year period.
“Their work has resulted in
significant reductions in soil
erosion, sedimentation, and acid
pollution of streams from these
sites,” Grant said. “They have
added to the beauty of the
countryside. And they have
helped turn useless land into
valuable property for forest,
pasture or range, wildlife
habitat, recreation areas, crop
production, building sites, and
other uses.”
Grant stressed that much more
work needs to be done, since
State Grange Convention
Program Announced
A full staff of officers will be
elected for two years by the
Pennsylvania State Grange at its
100th annual meeting October 23-
26 at Williamsport. A. Wayne
Readinger, master, said they will
bridge the transition from the
Grange’s first century of service
to the start of the second century
at the 101st convention October,
1973, m Reading where the state
mey will serve until the meeting
in 1974.
Incumbents eligible for
reelection include Readinger;
overseer, Clifford Tmklepaugh,
Thompson; lecturer, Miss
Mildred M. Shultz, Somerset;
steward, Marvin Miller, Get
tysburg, RD3; treasurer, John H.
Minor, Morgantown, W. Va.;
secretary, J. Luther Snyder,
Camp Hill; gatekeeper, Robert
E. Steese, Grove City, RDI;
Ceres, Mrs Ruth Fish, Towanda,
RDS, Pomona, Mrs. J. Leßoy
Cooke, Cross Creek; Flora, Mrs.
William Buffington, Chadds
Ford, and Glen Whelpley, Brock
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more than 4 million acres had
been disturbed as of January 1,
1972, in surface-mining
operations to harvest coal, sand
and gravel, and some 40 other
commodities.
“More than 90 percent of this
land is privately owned,” Grant
said. “It is intermingled with
farm, ranch, forest and other
land in rural and suburban
America—on which SCS already
is giving conservation help
through districts and in water
shed projects and resource
conservation and development
projects.”
Of the total acreage disturbed,
Grant said that 2,181,200 acres
needs land shaping, plantings, or
water-control structures to
prevent further land and water
damage. The remaining 1,823,700
acres already have been
reclaimed or have stabilized
themselves over a period of
years. Grant said that surface
mining has been practiced for
more than 100 years.
“About 15 percent of the land
needing reclamation has been
treated in the last seven years,”
way, executive committee.
Committee members are elected
for 3-year terms, all officers for
two years.
Aside from elections, the
Williamsport session will act on
resolutions, hear officer and
committee reports and addresses
by visiting speakers, select
winners in a wide range of talent
contests and exhibits, and con
sider convention sites for the next
several years, including one for
1976 when the Grange will join in
celebrating the nation’s bicen
tennial. Speakers will include
Lieutenant Governor Ernest P.
Kline.
Oldest and largest farm family
fraternity in both state and
nation, and possibly the world,
the Grange (Order of Patrons of
Husbandry) has been active in
Pennsylvania since early 1871
when Eagle Grange, No. 1, at
Montgomery, Lycoming county
was instituted, just four years
after the founding of the order
nationally
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Grant said. “This is significant
progress when you consider that
to date there is no formal
program for technical and
financial help on these problem
sites on private land. District
cooperators have undertaken
mined-land reclamation as part
of their overall conservation
activities.”
Grant said that about half of
the States now have statutes
calling for some form of surface
mined land reclamation work.
Their provisions vary widely.
SCS participation in surface
mined land restoration began in
the 1930’5, Grant said. In addition
to recommending vegetative and
mechanical measures to restore
a mined area, SCS also is active
in developing new plants that can
survive under the difficult slopes
and acid conditions found on most
surface-mined land.
One of the 20 SCS plant
materials centers, at Quicksand,
Ky., was established specifically
to locate, study, and increase the
supply of plants for surface
mined land. Several other cen
ters also are turning out useful
plants. Among those found
especially well suited are
deertongue grass, switchgrass,
‘Cardinal’ autumn-olive,
‘Chemung’ and ‘Emerald’
crownvetch, ‘Latcho’ flatpea,
‘Amot’ bristly locust, ‘Rem’ Red
Amur honeysuckle, Japanese
bush lesepedeza, and weeping
lovegrass.
“These plants are well adapted
to mined-land conditions and
A. G. KURTZ PAVING INC.
provide a higher percentage of and cover for many specie
surface cover in a shorter period wildlife. And their flowers
of time than trees,” Grant said. foliage have a high esf
‘ ‘They also provide excellent food value
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FEED LETTER
V
Scientists tell us that the reticulum (the second
stomach of a cow) acts as a screen. Its purpose is to
keep the large particles of feed in the rumen, where the
bacteria can break down the fiber in the ration. They
are pretty sure that pieces greater than Vi” will be
kidked back into the rumen and those smaller will pass
on to the rest of the digestive tract. Fiber is digested
mostly in the rumen. Wonder what happens to ground
corn cobs, hay, and other high fiber ingredients, when
they are mixed in a grain ration?
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