<http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/mar/15/seeds-of-transformation/>

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# Project aims to hone planting method for chestnuts on mine site 

By Fred Brown\
Saturday, March 15, 2008

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.2916666666666665in"
height="1.7083333333333333in"}\
Photo by: [Fred Brown](http://www.knoxnews.com/staff/fred-brown/)\
Jay Emison, 19, a civil-engineering student at the University of
Tennessee, plants American chestnut seeds Friday on Zeb Mountain. The
demonstration project is to determine the best planting methods to help
restore the American chestnut to Appalachian forests. The Appalachian
Regional Reforestation Initiative, the American Chestnut Foundation, the
University of Tennessee, the Office of Surface Mining and the state of
Tennessee were part of Friday's venture.

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="2.2916666666666665in"
height="1.7083333333333333in"}

Photo by: [Fred Brown](http://www.knoxnews.com/staff/fred-brown/)\
Jennifer Franklin, associate professor of forestry at the University of
Tennessee, is conducting a research project with the American chestnut
on Zeb Mountain in conjunction with the Appalachian Regional
Reforestation Initiative and the American Chestnut Foundation. More than
60 volunteers planted 500 of the chestnut seeds Friday in measured plots
using 10 different methods.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="2.2916666666666665in"
height="1.7166666666666666in"}

Photo by: [Fred Brown](http://www.knoxnews.com/staff/fred-brown/)\
Daniel Roling, CEO of National Coal Corp., was one of more than 60
volunteers who showed up for Friday's planting, deemed "Operation
Springboard," on the mine company's site in Campbell County.

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HUNTSVILLE, Tenn. - Daniel A. Roling, CEO of National Coal Corp., led a
diverse group of volunteers Friday in a day of planting American
chestnut seeds on an active coal mine site in Campbell County.

More than 60 volunteers braved rain and cold winds to help plant 500 of
the brown, thickish seeds in mounds of sandstone rock spoil from
National Coal\'s mining operations on Zeb Mountain.

Volunteers included retired Knoxville heart surgeon Hiroshi Toyohara;
Earl Bandy, field office director of the U.S. Office of Surface Mining
in Knoxville; Charles Kite, senior vice president and chief counsel of
National Coal Corp.; state Rep. William Baird, R-Jacksboro; retirees and
University of Tennessee students.

Foresters said it is doubtful any of the American chestnut seeds will
survive, because they will likely succumb to the Chinese chestnut
blight, a wind-blown fungus that arrived in the U.S. in the early half
of the 20th century.

But tree scientists, biologists and foresters are trying to discover the
best methods of planting the American chestnut for the day when an
American hybrid becomes impervious to the chestnut blight.

Labeled \"Operation Springboard\" by the Appalachian Regional
Reforestation Initiative and the American Chestnut Foundation, Friday\'s
venture was part of a demonstration project among those two entities,
the Office of Surface Mining, UT and the state of Tennessee.

The seeds were planted in measured plots using 10 different methods,
employing various soil combinations and other criteria that will allow
scientists to understand the best planting methods for the future.

National Coal\'s site was picked because the company agreed to cooperate
in the reforestation project. The project uses the Forestry Reclamation
Approach, which encourages the planting of tree seeds and seedlings in
loose soil that has not been compacted by heavy equipment.

Roling said his company was eager to learn the results of this project
in hopes that other mine companies across the coal fields will begin to
rethink their approach to reclamation, which has largely consisted of
the planting of grasses for the past 31 years since the Surface Mine
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

Later, National Coal will come in behind the scientists and foresters to
plant the same area in hardwoods and evergreen trees, which will start
the rebuilding process of a successional forest.

Friday\'s planting is part of the effort by the Office of Surface Mining
and other government agencies to return flattened mountains to forest
lands interspersed with grasslands.

National Coal is mining Zeb Mountain using a technique called
\"cross-ridge mining,\" in which the top of the mountain is removed but
the spoil must stay on the summit in roughly the original contours.
Environmental groups have objected to the technique, which they consider
a version of mountaintop removal. In mountaintop removal, mining
companies dump the spoil into the valleys, leaving man-made plateaus.

About five acres were planted Friday in the National Coal test site.

\"We are very excited about the reintroduction of the American
chestnut,\" Roling said. \"We just hope it is successful.

\"This is an important first step and I hope it works.\"

He said the forestry reclamation idea just makes senses since it isn\'t
hard to understand that seeds won\'t grow on compacted soil.

\"Mother Nature never compacted soil, so it is only logical.\"

Roling said using Zeb Mountain as a test plot was UT\'s proposal, \"and
we\'re just open to the idea.\"

He said he did not think the reforestation plan would be more costly
than what coal mine operations are doing now in reclaiming stripped mine
lands.

Hill Craddock, a biology professor at UT-Chattanooga and a chestnut
breeder for the American Chestnut Foundation, said he expects the
organization to release an America-type hybrid chestnut that will be
blight resistant soon.

Already, he said, some of those hybrids are being planted in Cherokee
National Forest.

Once a blight-resistant seed is found, then members of Appalachian
Regional Reforestation Initiative and the American Chestnut Foundation
hope that the now-devastated mine lands, first by the blight and then by
strip mining, can one day be returned to lush forests.

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© 2008 Knoxville News Sentinel

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