| Operated by the Holmes Limestone Company, the
Walnut Creek Mine is located in Holmes County, Ohio. The post-mining land use is pasture
and cropland, with hay as the final crop. It is noted that Holmes County has a large Amish
community and many of Holmes Limestone's employees are Amish and are proud of the
reclamation that has taken place. The entire permitted area has been re-soiled with 40
inches of topsoil and subsoil, effectively exceeding the Prime Farmland standards.
Accessing the site required construction of a haul road over 3,000 feet in length.
Although temporary by design, permanent vegetated berms interrupted by sumps utilizing
rock down-drains at their outlets control all runoff. This design eliminates essentially
all maintenance outside of adding to and grading of the aggregate topping and occasional
sump cleaning. |
Haul road showing berms and topping
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| The areas above ponds 004 and 005 are permitted blending areas where steep
hollows were converted into farmland. The gentle contour above pond 004 originally
required installation of a rock channel to carry the runoff generated by the extensive
watershed. Construction of this channel would have disrupted haymaking operations in this
area. A catch basin was revised into the plan utilizing underground tiling to replace this
rock channel and preserve a relatively unbroken contour in this area. |
Pond 004 looking
south from catch basin dam
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Old growth, emergent growth,
and
freshly re-soiled area
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Contemporaneous reclamation was key to the operation. Mining began at the
south end of the permit and proceeded in a northerly direction. At any given time, viewing
this site resulted in seeing a classic, textbook progression in mining and reclamation.
South to north views revealed old vegetation blocks, newer vegetation, emergent and
recently planted vegetation, followed by newly re-soiled blocks, graded backfill, rough
backfill, and active pit. |
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