Our first day of our five day
journey in the Eastern Kentucky coal fields started with a two hour trip from
Berea to Leslie County, Kentucky. Once we arrived in Leslie County we met up
with Dr. Tammy Horn from Coal Country Bee Works (
http://www.eri.eku.edu/coal-country-beeworks
). Our first stop on our day of work was a surface mining operation where Horn
has a bee yard. During the drive up to the bee yard we were able to see the
mountains before, during, and after the mining process. It was interesting to
see the various stages of succession in the landscape starting with the
un-mined, lower portions of the mountains with tall hemlock, oak, and poplar
trees, which soon faded away to barren ground and large jagged rocks. The
portions of the mountain that had been mined less recently had taken on a look
that is entirely foreign to the original landscape of the Appalachian Mountains,
grassy savannas with small, staggered trees.
Once we reached the bee yard the area looked
like a new growth forest with small trees, scattered wildflowers and grass.
 |
Becca Shaw smokes the hive to mask the bee's pheromones
and calm them while we examine their brood. |
At this site we learned about basic treatment
for Varroa Mites which are a tiny brown tick like insect that attach themselves
to bees during foraging in order to be spread from colony to colony. In the
hive these mites can reproduce in ten days, using the pupa stage of the bee as
a food source. For the first step we learned how to properly apply smoke to the
hive, this smoking tells the bees to go into the hives and to eat honey, which
helps them to calm down and be easier to work with. The smoker consists of a
metal can with a spout on one end and a billow on the other. The can is filled
with pine straw and burlap and then lit. The enclosed cylinder with slow
burning materials creates a steady stream of cool smoke that will not hurt the
bees.
In order to help reduce the mite
count in the colonies we dusted the inside of the hive with powdered sugar.
This sugar acts as a trigger to make the bees groom themselves and clean the
hive, any Varroa mites that are found at this time will be discarded by the
bees and fall to the bottom of the hive.
 |
A mining employee hydroseeding an extensive reclamation
site with a mixture that included many flowering planting
that the bees like. |
After our quick treatment of the
bees we met up with a group of men who were working on the preliminary
During the mountain top removal process all of
the original forest is removed and what is left over is a mixture of rocks,
sand and soil. This crew was using a hydro seeding process to reestablish
plants in this area. This process involves taking grass seed, sometimes flower
seeds, fertilizer, paper mulch, and water, and combining them all in a giant
tanker truck. A blue coloring agent is also added to this mixture. The tanker
truck sprays the hydro seed mixture out through a hose, about the size of a
fire hose, onto the bare ground. According to the operation supervisor it costs
about $1000 per acre of land. With over 1.4 million acres of mountain top
removal in the USA, this is an extremely costly process.
step of reclaiming
an area that had been recently mined. Our first view of the site that we
visited, as we crested the hill, was an enormous bowl that had been carved out
of the mountain during the mining process. The sheer size of this area was
almost impossible to fathom due to the fact that there was absolutely no
vegetation left on the steep rocky slopes.
After leaving this site we had
lunch with the president of a major coal company that has operations in Perry
County, KY, and in several other states. During our meal we asked questions
about the projected future of coal and other subjects including the production
and shipping of coal from Appalachia.
After lunch we went to a second mountain
top removal (MTR) site, also in Leslie County. This area was a mine site that
was no longer active, all of the ground was covered with grasses, and trees had
both been planted, and also volunteered. It was very much so open grassland,
but it was exciting to see that trees were starting to take hold and that
hopefully one day it might be a forest again. At this site we worked on the
same mite treatment as before, dusting with powdered sugar. We also planted a
mixture of wildflowers that will provide food for the honey bees later in the
summer.
This seed included cone flowers,
sunflowers, and black-eyed Susans among others.
 |
Becca, Jordan, and Emily Grace admire
Robinson Forest |
 |
An evening hike to the fire tower at
Robinson Forest - the largest tract of
forest in Eastern Kentucky, surrounded
almost entirely by mining. Dr. Sarah
Hall described much of the biodiversity
we saw on the way. |
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