On April 19, Judd Sanborn and Eli Frierson of the Mississippi Lignite Mining Co., a subsidiary of North American Coal, spoke to the Eupora Rotary Club about the ongoing land rehabilitation and mitigation efforts at the Red Hills Mine and in Big Black River bottom along U.S. 82 east of Eupora.
Part of the mine’s historic goals is to plan, monitor, establish and restore environments with a focus on river and stream wetland ecosystems, threatened and endangered species habitats, native grasslands, and other ecologically important natural systems. Environmental stewardship is at the forefront of the North American Coal culture.
This site along the Big Black River bottom is known as the Tobaksákola Mitigation Site. The Mississippi Tribe of the Choctaw Indians in Neshoba County helped name the site. The Choctaw name means “Coal Mine.”
The Tobaksákola Mitigation Site is a stream and wetland mitigation site located in the Upper Big Black Basin in Webster County. This site provides stream and wetland mitigation credits for the Mississippi Lignite Mining Co. The present site consists of 1,164.33 acres of streams and wetlands. The project contains 44,653 linear feet of stream and associated riparian buffer enhancement and 57.54 acres of wetlands enhancement.
Since the Red Hills Mine dug the first shovel of dirt here, they have understood the impact that surface mining can have on the environment. The staff at the Choctaw County Ecoplex purposefully navigates each acre of land, working with the landowner to create a cost-effective solution that leaves the land better than when it found it.
These staff members are professionals in the practical work of credit yield assessment and ecosystem restoration, and they provide a broad array of support services like land acquisition, contract management, regulatory negotiation and legal strategies.
It was interesting that the company will not mine the lower two layers of coal available because it does not want to create any chance of damaging the Wilcox Sand strata because the geological formation is the source of our water here in Eupora and most of Northeast Mississippi.
In the last two decades, North American Coal has planted over 8.8 million trees, restored over 1,400 acres of wetlands, reestablished over 54 miles of streams, and planted over 19,000 acres of native grass in its Vicksburg District, of which this area is a part. To learn more, visit www.nacco.com.
The Eupora Rotary Club meets every Tuesday at noon at the Kountry Kitchen restaurant in Eupora. Its members come from all areas of the economy from the retired to those just beginning their careers. It is composed of men and women who truly want to make Eupora a better place to live. In order to become a Rotary member, just ask a Rotary member!
