Deputy Secretary for Active and Abandoned Mine Operations John Stefanko along with Bureau Director of Abandoned Mine Reclamation Eric Cavazza participated in the opening of the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden in Oakdale, which sits atop abandoned coal mines.

Also present at the opening ceremony was U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior Sally Jewel and Director of the Federal Office of Surface Mining Joe Pizarchik, a former DEP employee..

Part of the Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens is a remining site that will reclaim a former strip mining area as part of mining operations. The botanical garden stretches across 460 acres and includes plans for 18 themed gardens, five types of woodlands and a botanic research facility while a quarter of the garden area still has active mining occurring.

The garden works by filtering acid mine drainage into the ground which then flows through a 5-foot-deep limestone water treatment facility into a lotus pond.

Funding for the treatment facility was provided by a DEP Growing Greener grant.

(Reprinted from the August 7 issue of DEP News.  Click Here for past issues or to sign up for your own copy.)

8/11/2014