Paul, your piece offers a striking view on the revival of Appalachia’s lands. While the science is clear and hopeful, I find myself wondering about the uncharted dimensions of this renewal. What does the silent resilience of these ecosystems tell us about the unseen forces of nature? Maybe it’s not just the physical restoration but the underlying pulse of the earth reclaiming its space, whispering in ways we rarely notice. It’s a testament to a kind of quiet persistence that defies our understanding, dancing on the edge of what we can comprehend.
I love restoration stories, which give us hope in ecologically bleak times. This brought to mind Lehigh Gap in Pennsylvania. The mountains there were completely denuded by heavy metal pollution from a zinc mine that operated for many decades. It became a Superfund site and was restored by introducing topsoil and using prairie grasses and other plants that would process the heavy metals, slowly reinvigorating the soil. If anyone is interested in this remarkable story, start here: https://lgnc.org/about-lgnc/about/
I grew up a couple blocks from a Union Carbide plant that produced graphite. Previously, it had been a zinc factory. The town was filled with immigrants from northern Spain, where there are a lot of zinc mines.
Wow...that photo of the man in front of the American chestnut – what an impressive tree. It’s sad to think it may soon be extinct. On the other hand, the restoration project does seem optimistic...
Paul, your piece offers a striking view on the revival of Appalachia’s lands. While the science is clear and hopeful, I find myself wondering about the uncharted dimensions of this renewal. What does the silent resilience of these ecosystems tell us about the unseen forces of nature? Maybe it’s not just the physical restoration but the underlying pulse of the earth reclaiming its space, whispering in ways we rarely notice. It’s a testament to a kind of quiet persistence that defies our understanding, dancing on the edge of what we can comprehend.
I love restoration stories, which give us hope in ecologically bleak times. This brought to mind Lehigh Gap in Pennsylvania. The mountains there were completely denuded by heavy metal pollution from a zinc mine that operated for many decades. It became a Superfund site and was restored by introducing topsoil and using prairie grasses and other plants that would process the heavy metals, slowly reinvigorating the soil. If anyone is interested in this remarkable story, start here: https://lgnc.org/about-lgnc/about/
Wow! From Superfund to nature center. That’s remarkable. Thanks, Joel!
I realize I mis-typed. It wasn't a zinc MINE; it was a zinc refining operation (or however they produce usable zinc).
I grew up a couple blocks from a Union Carbide plant that produced graphite. Previously, it had been a zinc factory. The town was filled with immigrants from northern Spain, where there are a lot of zinc mines.
Wow...that photo of the man in front of the American chestnut – what an impressive tree. It’s sad to think it may soon be extinct. On the other hand, the restoration project does seem optimistic...
Yes, I grew up in that region, and it’s hard to get my head around eastern forests having such huge trees. Our plunder has robbed us of so much.