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Porcupine Creek
is part of the award-winning wildlife habitat restoration program at the North
Antelope Rochelle Mine
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Peabody Energy’s Powder River
Coal Company subsidiary has earned a 2004 Industry Reclamation and Wildlife
Stewardship Award from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for developing
high-quality wetland and riparian habitat.
The award recognizes reclamation
of numerous ponds and a half-mile series of wetlands with a variety of wildlife
enhancements at the North Antelope Rochelle, Caballo and Rawhide mines. The
wetlands create prime wildlife watering sites and provide habitat while the
islands provide security for nesting birds.
In presenting the award, the Game
and Fish Department said that the long series of wetlands provide
“extraordinarily high quality habitat for aquatic species in an area that has
very little wetland and riparian habitat.” The wetlands are particularly
valuable during current drought conditions when many natural wetlands areas have
dried up, the Game and Fish Department noted.
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“Our environmental team
continues to develop innovative programs that restore superior wildlife, wetland
and range areas, leaving the land twice as productive as native range,” said
Powder River Basin Group Executive Kemal Williamson. “We are proud to have
earned five major awards in the past two years recognizing our mission of
leaving the land in a condition that is equal to or better than we found it.”
The Industry Reclamation and
Wildlife Stewardship Award is the latest in a series of honors for Peabody’s
Powder River operations. In August, the North Antelope Rochelle Mine earned the
Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s Corporation of the Year Award for consistent,
proactive efforts to protect wildlife resources and habitats. The Mine was
recognized for a voluntary three-year research project on greater sage grouse
and their habitat at the mine and neighboring coal mines. The program identified
the grouse’s favorite vegetation and tracked movements via radio-collar
transmitters to define preferred habitat and priority areas for plantings on
reclaimed lands. Reclamation of Porcupine Creek has included restoration of more
than 6,500 willows, cottonwoods, choke cherries and ponderosas.
Large
populations of deer enjoy reclaimed lands at the Caballo Mine
The Caballo Mine was recognized
by the U.S. Department of the Interior with a National Reclamation Excellence
Award for improving wildlife habitat in 2003. Powder River Coal Company also
received awards for stewardship from the U.S. Forest Service and the Wyoming
Game and Fish Department in 2002. Initiatives to develop ponds and wetlands to
improve wildlife habitat have earned state and national honors.
Wildlife thrive on reclaimed lands at the Rawhide Mine
Peabody’s Powder River Basin
mines shipped a record 106.5 million tons of coal in 2003 and ranked number one,
four and six among America’s most productive mines in 2003.
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