Seeds of reclamation planted by Penn State DuBois students
4/6/09
Wildlife students at Penn State DuBois are helping to establish a forest where there was once just barren land devastated by strip mining. Students are now planting trees on a 3.5-acre portion of reclaimed strip mine near Coal Glenn, Jefferson County. Two core goals of this study are to find out what methods of planting will allow trees to prosper at reclaimed mine sites, and to try growing American chestnut trees at such sites. Successful growth could mean a rebirth of the chestnut, a species virtually wiped from the face of the earth by an invasive fungus in the early 20th century.