NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp ruffled the normally docile birding community when he said in a recent candidate forum that coal mining is good for the state's feathered flocks.
"I sat around a campfire in Campbell County with all the experts - biologists, geologists, fishing and wildlife," Wamp said at a Feb. 18 forum of Republican candidates running for governor hosted by the Brentwood-Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Coal mining is "actually good for the birds, and good for the environment. ... to actually mine coal in a responsible way."
Melinda Welton, a bird specialist, is among those who reacted to the statement with dismay.
"I wish that were true, but it is not," said Welton, of BirdWorks Consulting in Franklin. "There are no current surface coal mining practices that are beneficial to the birds that depend on the forested slopes of the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee."
The Tennessean made three separate requests for the names of the experts Wamp had spoken to, and after the third, aide Sam Edelen said the conversation took place a while ago. Wamp recalled that they were with people from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, and a University of Tennessee biologist.
TWRA, which oversees oversee hunting, fishing and wildlife, has an ornithologist who was out of town and could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment. The federation did not have a response by deadline.
Wamp did send an e-mail statement earlier in the week about his comment.
"Coal is a vital energy source that is available in only a few counties of our state, and today, 95 percent of all coal mining in Tennessee is taking place in old abandoned mines being reclaimed with new, modern and responsible mining techniques," Wamp wrote.
"So what I was referencing at the forum in Brentwood when I said 'it is good for the environment to mine coal in a responsible way' is the reclamation work being done around those once abandoned mines that is leading to more polluted streams getting cleaned up, more wetlands being restored, and more reforestation and vegetation projects that are improving the habitat of the birds, elk and other wildlife that live around them.
"None of that good work would be happening if those old mines were just left sitting there polluted and abandoned."
Cleaning up abandoned mine sites and getting plants growing does improve streams and habitat for animals such as elk, which have been reintroduced in Tennessee and are being hunted on a limited basis. The sizable creatures are grazers and prefer fields to forests.
But birds that breed in forests - and two of the state's most sensitive bird species - are not among creatures that benefit, bird experts say.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp ruffled the normally docile birding community when he said in a recent candidate forum that coal mining is good for the state's feathered flocks.
"I sat around a campfire in Campbell County with all the experts - biologists, geologists, fishing and wildlife," Wamp said at a Feb. 18 forum of Republican candidates running for governor hosted by the Brentwood-Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Coal mining is "actually good for the birds, and good for the environment. ... to actually mine coal in a responsible way."
Melinda Welton, a bird specialist, is among those who reacted to the statement with dismay.
"I wish that were true, but it is not," said Welton, of BirdWorks Consulting in Franklin. "There are no current surface coal mining practices that are beneficial to the birds that depend on the forested slopes of the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee."
The Tennessean made three separate requests for the names of the experts Wamp had spoken to, and after the third, aide Sam Edelen said the conversation took place a while ago. Wamp recalled that they were with people from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, and a University of Tennessee biologist.
TWRA, which oversees oversee hunting, fishing and wildlife, has an ornithologist who was out of town and could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment. The federation did not have a response by deadline.
Wamp did send an e-mail statement earlier in the week about his comment.
"Coal is a vital energy source that is available in only a few counties of our state, and today, 95 percent of all coal mining in Tennessee is taking place in old abandoned mines being reclaimed with new, modern and responsible mining techniques," Wamp wrote.
"So what I was referencing at the forum in Brentwood when I said 'it is good for the environment to mine coal in a responsible way' is the reclamation work being done around those once abandoned mines that is leading to more polluted streams getting cleaned up, more wetlands being restored, and more reforestation and vegetation projects that are improving the habitat of the birds, elk and other wildlife that live around them.
"None of that good work would be happening if those old mines were just left sitting there polluted and abandoned."
Cleaning up abandoned mine sites and getting plants growing does improve streams and habitat for animals such as elk, which have been reintroduced in Tennessee and are being hunted on a limited basis. The sizable creatures are grazers and prefer fields to forests.
But birds that breed in forests - and two of the state's most sensitive bird species - are not among creatures that benefit, bird experts say.
Modern mining techniques tear up bird habitats, Welton said.
"Perhaps the reason for the confusion that Rep. Wamp was expressing is that it's true that Golden-winged warblers are found on abandoned coal mine benches," she said, referring to relatively narrow and flat ledges left on mountainsides.
The birds are one of two species of highest concern in the state, she said. They breed and nest in the mountains each spring.
"Most of the population in the state of Tennessee occurs on these benches," she said of the Golden-winged warbler. "But these benches were created 30 to 40 years ago when mining was done in a very different way.
"Because of the way they've re-vegetated and the very narrowness of the mining, the birds found it acceptable."
Miners often cut along the edge of a mountainside to get to a coal seam, but today's equipment and techniques allow chewing away much larger sections of the forested mountains.
"Cerulean warblers are not only eliminated in the footprint of the mine, but (bird populations) are lowered even in the remaining forest near mine sites," Welton said.
Re-mining an old area, then replacing materials and replanting it is no answer because of the larger footprint, Tennessee Ornithological Society President Richard Preston wrote to Wamp in a Feb. 23 letter.
Golden-winged warblers, for instance, "are NOT found on current reclaimed large-area surface mine sites," he wrote.
Preston cited studies, including one co-authored by D.A. Buehler, a University of Tennessee Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries department professor.
"While the Tennessee Ornithological Society is pleased that you are interested in the welfare of the birds of Tennessee, we were distressed to see your recent comments in The Tennessean about coal mining being good for birds."
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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com
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