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Long-Term Impacts on Macroinvertebrates Downstream of Reclaimed Mountaintop Mining Valley Fills in Central Appalachia

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Abstract

Recent studies have documented adverse effects to biological communities downstream of mountaintop coal mining and valley fills (VF), but few data exist on the longevity of these impacts. We sampled 15 headwater streams with VFs reclaimed 11–33 years prior to 2011 and sampled seven local reference sites that had no VFs. We collected chemical, habitat, and benthic macroinvertebrate data in April 2011; additional chemical samples were collected in September 2011. To assess ecological condition, we compared VF and reference abiotic and biotic data using: (1) ordination to detect multivariate differences, (2) benthic indices (a multimetric index and an observed/expected predictive model) calibrated to state reference conditions to detect impairment, and (3) correlation and regression analysis to detect relationships between biotic and abiotic data. Although VF sites had good instream habitat, nearly 90 % of these streams exhibited biological impairment. VF sites with higher index scores were co-located near unaffected tributaries; we suggest that these tributaries were sources of sensitive taxa as drifting colonists. There were clear losses of expected taxa across most VF sites and two functional feeding groups (% scrapers and %shredders) were significantly altered. Percent VF and forested area were related to biological quality but varied more than individual ions and specific conductance. Within the subset of VF sites, other descriptors (e.g., VF age, site distance from VF, the presence of impoundments, % forest) had no detectable relationships with biological condition. Although these VFs were constructed pursuant to permits and regulatory programs that have as their stated goals that (1) mined land be reclaimed and restored to its original use or a use of higher value, and (2) mining does not cause or contribute to violations of water quality standards, we found sustained ecological damage in headwaters streams draining VFs long after reclamation was completed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was performed jointly through cooperation between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region III and U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE)and we thank John Pomponio and John Forren (EPA-Region III) and Lois Uranowski and Dave Hartos (OSMRE) for programmatic support to the authors. Additional field assistance was provided by Lou Reynolds (EPA- Region III) and Omar Beckford (OSMRE). We especially appreciate mining inspectors from WVDEP’s Logan, Oak Hill, and Philippi Offices who assisted with site access, and Nick Schaer (WVDEP) for advice on site selection. We also thank Tom Mastrorocco (OSMRE) for GIS assistance. An earlier draft of the manuscript was reviewed by Ken Fritz, Brent Johnson, and Glenn Suter (EPA-Office of Research and Development), Matt Klasen and Rachael Novak (EPA-Office of Water), Jeff Bailey and Michael Whitman (WVDEP), Stefania Shamet (EPA-Region III), Leah Ettema (EPA-Region IV) and Jason Robinson (Illinois Natural History Survey). We also thank Angus Webb (University of Melbourne) and Kyle Hartman (West Virginia University) for thier reviews. Although this research was supported by EPA and OSMRE, opinions are those of the authors and do not represent official government policy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division, Office of Monitoring and Assessment Region III, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1060 Chapline St., Wheeling, WV, 26003, USA

    Gregory J. Pond, Margaret E. Passmore, Kelly J. G. Krock & Jennifer B. Fulton

  2. Office of Surface Mining, Appalachian Regional Office, Three Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA, 15220, USA

    Nancy D. Pointon, John K. Felbinger & Craig A. Walker

  3. Office of Surface Mining, Knoxville Field Office, 710 Locust St., Knoxville, TN, 37902, USA

    Whitney L. Nash

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  1. Gregory J. Pond
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Correspondence to Gregory J. Pond.

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Pond, G.J., Passmore, M.E., Pointon, N.D. et al. Long-Term Impacts on Macroinvertebrates Downstream of Reclaimed Mountaintop Mining Valley Fills in Central Appalachia. Environmental Management 54, 919–933 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0319-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0319-6

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