flowers bloom outside homes and water
flows crystal-clear on a perfect spring
day in Elkins branch it is a dramatic
difference from a summer day in 2015
when a landslide started moving down
from the mountain above ultimately
estimated about two hundred thousand
yards of material and that's I guess
that we have a large surface mine once
operated on this ridge top material that
was not cold was pushed over the side
resulting in an unstable hillside and
eventually a landslide the mining
occurred before environmental laws
preventing such actions were passed in
1977 when this slide came off I was
really concerned it was going to fill
the creek up down here and really do a a
job on these people belong the Virginia
Department of Mines minerals and energy
responded fast declaring the site an
abandoned mine land emergency crews were
called in quickly to stabilize the
material and ensure the safety of the
Elkins branch community next was to stop
the environmental impact that meant
drainage control and the steep terrain
did not make this step any easier
probably the biggest a grant from
Virginia's Department of Environmental
Quality paired with the agencies
abandoned mine land dollars insured the
nearby branch will be cleaner than
before the slide the last step was to
figure out where the hundreds of
thousands of yards of material from that
slide we're going to go the answer
turned out to be simple we are standing
on fill material that can
from that from the slide the historic
mine served as a perfect disposal area
but would result in covering an existing
cross-country trail county officials had
dreams of expanding that trail and the
construction would allow it we wanted to
make certain that we put in our best
effort to keep everybody as safe as
possible fencing was installed along the
entire trail and county leaders have
high hopes of hosting cross-country
tournaments here was it is one of the
best cross-country tracks in the best
part of the state of Virginia
three years six projects and just under
1 million dollars later oh it's
absolutely a success story for more
information on abandoned mine lands in
Virginia visit our website at DMM e dot
virginia.gov