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December 15, 2005
HUFF RUN PROJECT ONE OF 12 TO RECEIVE NATIONAL WATERSHED GRANT
$711,301 grant will help restore 19 acres in Carroll County
damaged by historic coal mining
 COLUMBUS, OH - A $711,301 federal grant will help restore a 19-acre area in Carroll County known as the Belden Acid Mine Drainage Project, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Located within the Huff Run Watershed, the project was one of only 12 nationwide to receive funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Targeted Watershed Grant Program.
The ODNR Division of Mineral Resources Management, a partner in the grant, is also committing approximately $300,000 in funding for construction and in-kind services.
“Huff Run rates high on our list of state waterways in need of restoration,” said Mike Sponsler, chief of the ODNR Division of Mineral Resources Management. “Restoration of this watershed is important to the local citizens as well as the wildlife living in it. We are pleased to see a continued commitment to return Huff Run to its natural state.”
Unregulated coal mining practices in the 1800s caused severe damage to the landscape and wildlife within the 14 square-mile Huff Run Watershed, which also includes portions of Tuscarawas County. Today, abandoned coal refuse piles, ungraded earth, rock piles and mine openings, as well as large amounts of acid run-off continue to be a problem in the watershed, particularly at the Belden site.
The project site is located upstream and restoration would positively impact water quality in downstream reaches. Restoration plans include building wetland ponds that will filter aluminum and iron from the highly acidic waters.
The Targeted Watersheds Grant Program is designed to encourage community-based approaches and management techniques for protecting and restoring the nation's waters. These 12 grant recipients, who received a total of $9 million, will join 34 others that have been selected over the past two years to help protect and restore watersheds nationwide. In 2003, the Miami Conservancy District received $700,000 through the Targeted Watershed Grant Program for projects that included improving erosion control, upgrading and repairing failing septic tank and implementing sustainable watershed management strategies within the Great Miami River Watershed.
The Division of Mineral Resources Management administers both state and federal abandoned mine lands programs, reclaiming those areas disturbed by coal mining operations and returning them to a more natural state for conservation and recreation.
For more information about the Targeted Watershed Grant visit epa.gov/owow. For more information about Ohio’s abandoned mine lands program visit ohiodnr.com
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