Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation

We're sure that you will get an inside look at mine pool mapping and multi-colliery hydrogeologic units from our two regional Staff with decades of experience between them working in the Anthracite and Northern Bituminous Region as they have scanned, catalogued, digitized, georeferenced, created mine map mosaics, ground-truthed surface mining features that have been abandoned, and have provided technical professional services to many community groups and consultants alike on their combined understanding of what lies beneath our feet in PA's legacy abandoned mines and coalfields.

We couldn't agree more! We're off to Washington DC tomorrow and Wednesday to meet with our area legislators and their staff to provide them with updated statistics on abandoned mine lands and AMD pollution problems within their respective districts and watersheds in both the Susquehanna and Delaware River drainages. We will also be talking about successful projects completed with Chesapeake Bay Program funding, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Protection Agency Clean Water Act Section 319 Non-Point Source funding through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection with our partners in the Choose Clean Water Coalition. Shout out to our friend and colleague Eric Dixon for giving us a mention in his Opinion piece!

Not all abandoned mine lands have been identified or mapped and aren’t included in the abandoned mine land inventory system. We even find new sites that are dangerous on public lands like State Game Lands and put our lives on the line to properly locate them and GPS their locations for duture inclusion with the Problwm Area feature inventory so they can be addressed with federal funds.

We are excited to find out and receive in the mail yesterday an approval of a grant from The Luzerne Foundation's Kelci Ever After Do Good Memorial Fund to support our 3D-Printer Science Technology Engineering & Math (STEM) Project, "Macros, Underground Mines, and Mining Relics". It's long been a vision of the Executive Director Robert "Bobby" E. Hughes and his Staff to be the first to create a 3D-printed model of an underground anthracite mine working and macros (bugs found in our rivers and streams) for those students who might be a little more aversive to holding and identifying live macros. We are extremely excited to start this project and purchase our first 3D Bambu P1S Printer and supplies to learn how to create our vision and be able to put these scaled version models and artifacts in our hands and in the hands of students as well. We can't thank the family enough for this generous donation. We encourage our followers and supporters to consider giving to this important fund. https://lnkd.in/e-Wyabnt

Our Executive Director, Robert "Bobby" E. Hughes had the opportunity last evening to present to the members of the Lackawanna Valley Trout Unlimited and discussed regional efforts underway by EPCAMR in the Lackawanna Valley, educational programs completed in partnership with the Pennsylvania American Water, AMERICAN WATER CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC, and the Lackawanna River Conservation Association, Columbia University, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, PA Department of Environmental Protection, Stanley Cooper Chapter Trout Unlimited, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission , and Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited. It was wel received. Our Lackawanna Valley Borehole Monitoring Campaign was highlighted, discussions on the Old Forge and Jermyn Mine Pools, 3D Mine Mapping, and examples of our work to sample for rare earth elements (REE) in AMD, and ongoing recruitment for volunteers interested in becoming certified as Lead Observers following training in aquatic organism passage (AOP) where we survey and score the passability of bridges and culverts. This type of work was highlighted in our current efforts that we are working on in the Shickshinny Creek watershed at the southern end of the Wyoming Valley. We plugged a Summer Conference we will be participating in at Bucknell University hosted by the SHAMOKIN CREEK RESTORATION ALLIANCE, our own PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation Conference that will be in the Fall, Trout in the Classroom Program, and our educational Streamside Hub website for them to access resources and educational materials.

Bobby got a surprise art piece dropped off today by a long-time friend and colleague of his from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District! We can’t wait to get a bunch more of them to display!

We’re glad to be a part of this Conference!

Robert "Bobby" E. Hughes and Mark Jones, AmeriCorps VISTA had a great time today educating families on our work in the EPCAMR region on abandoned mines, watershed restoration, macro invertebrates, and trout, at the Vernal School Environmental Education Partnership that we are a proud member of. Shout out to our partner, John Zaktansky ,Middle Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER for inviting us to return for the second annual event. The youth played Macro Bingo with Bobby to win some candy and an opportunity for a photo op with our famous and sought after trout puppets, Rainbow and Brookie! Our table was a popular one. We have found a fun way to educate our youth about our work and aquatic species. By the end of the dozens of rounds of Macro BINGO, the youth were able to quickly recall and recognize over 30 aquatic species without hesitation. The macros were viewed through our Bug Viewers that magnify them 10X their actual size! The samples are 22 years old and so are our recycled cardboard cutouts of the oversized macros created by one of our Board Members, Leigh Ann Henry, when she was a former intern for us! We also allowed the youth to view our 360 degree interactive, VR experience of an AMD Treatment System in the Nanticoke Creek watershed. We met some new potential partners in education too. Finally, Bobby met a wonderful young lady who cosplays and is very artistic and talented who looks like she might volunteer or us to help come up with a pattern for our puppets to create miniature plushies in the future and a trout head mask!

In a few weeks, our Executive Director, Robert "Bobby" E. Hughes will make his first trip to Annapolis, MD to become even more engaged than he already has been for decades on the Citizens Stakeholders’ Advisory Committee to the Chesapeake Executive Council. He was recently appointed by Office of Governor Josh Shapiro with full support from Jill Whitcomb PA DEP Bureau of Watershed Restoration Section 319 Non-Point Source Program and PA DEP’s Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley and took his oath to accept the position. He hopes to bring his 30 years of experience in abandoned mine land reclamation and legacy mine water pollution from AMD that significantly impacts the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay, particularly in PA’s North and West Branch’s of the Susquehanna River. His advocacy for watershed restoration, land reclamation, cleanup of illegal dump sites of trash and tires that would otherwise pollute our waterways, trout steam restoration and habitat improvement, wildlife habitat improvement, watershed assessments, community capacity building, networking, knowledge of AMD, hydro geology, and hands-on approach to getting things done is commendable and exemplary. He stated that he enjoys working side by side with his fellow community volunteers and believes that none of us will be able to accomplish anything meaningful or impactful in our own lives and communities if we are not actively getting outside in our rivers and streams and engaging others in our neighborhoods to do more than talk about what needs to happen. They need to find a way to make it happen and leave no stone unturned and involve our youth so they don’t lose sight of what nature has to offer outside of an electronic environment and the satisfaction and happiness one can enjoy for themselves when society tends to bombard us with hypersensitivity from all angles making us often anxious and stressed. He hopes to bring this perspective to the Committee and is excited to represent the PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation community that knows him all too well. Coming up with innovative solutions and ideas that have been inplemented by him and his Staff will go a long way in advising the Committee with his local expertise as the Chesapeake Bay Plan 2025 is getting a fresh look at evaluating what’s happening in the overall watershed and what can be done to continue to make progress and improvements overall. Yesterday he participated in an introductory call with Jessica Blackburn Coordinator, for the Stakeholders' Advisory Committee & Community Leadership Initiative Director to the Stakeholders Advisory Committee, Alex LoCurto Stakeholders' Advisory Committee Project Associate, and several other Committee members, including Patrick McDonnell, PennFuture, who also has been appointed by the Governor. He looks forward to joining fellow PA colleagues and long-time environmental leaders on the Committee and meeting representatives from the other states.

The application round is now open to eligible applicants.