Penn State Ag Sciences Newsline -- July 17, 2007
Poultry manure can restore land destroyed by mining (:44)
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Suggested Intro:
PENNSYLVANIA IS HOME TO MORE THAN 250,000 ACRES OF ABANDONED SURFACE MINES. BUT RESEARCHERS IN PENN STATE'S COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES MAY HAVE FOUND A WAY TO RECLAIM THAT LAND USING WASTE PRODUCTS. MORE FROM GARY ABDULLAH:
Story:
(:18) RECENT EXPERIMENTS SHOW THAT SPREADING A COMBINATION OF POULTRY MANURE AND CARBON-RICH PAPER-PLANT RESIDUES OVER LAND DAMAGED BY MINING CAN STIMULATE REVEGETATION WHILE LIMITING NUTRIENT RUN-OFF. PENN STATE SOIL RESEARCHER ASHLEE DERE CAUTIONS THAT THE LOW-COST TECHNIQUE IS NOT INTENDED TO RESTORE LAND TO UNSPOILED CONDITION:
Dere Actuality:
(:17) "THIS IS STRICTLY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION. IT'S REALLY TAILORED TOWARD THESE MARGINAL LANDS THAT… THEY'RE NOT SUITABLE FOR FARMING, SO WE'RE REALLY LOOKING TO SEE WHAT WE CAN DO WITH IT, THAT THEY CAN STILL PRODUCE SOMETHING SUCH AS SWITCHGRASS, OR AT THE VERY LEAST, BE RECLAIMED WITH SOME SORT OF VEGETATION."(:10) DERE SAYS MUCH OF THE MINED LAND IS STONY TERRAIN UNSUITABLE FOR FARMING, BUT WITH HER TREATMENT IT MIGHT SUPPORT THE GROWTH OF FORAGES AND GRASSES FOR USE IN BIOFUELS. FROM PENN STATE, I'M GARY ABDULLAH.
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