Published: October 27, 2016 |

The Lotus Pond at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. (Photo: Ben Filio, Tribune Review)
[Click image to enlarge]

The Lotus Pond at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden in North Fayette brims with life.

Beneath its clear surface spotted with schools of green lily pads, swim large-mouth bass, blue gills and minnows. Its blooms consist of water lilies, lotus flowers and cattails. Frogs jump, and insects buzz. Large boulders line the edge, and an arched Japanese garden bridge allows for passage to the other side. In the future, visitors can expect to see cherry, white flower and crab apple trees, in addition to a waterfall.

Before all this, the area was a wetland and a dump filled with acid mine drainage.

“There were tires and refrigerators, all kinds of garbage in here,” said Bob Hedin, president of Hedin Environmental, which serves as a consultant for the Botanic Garden on Pinkerton Run Road. “It was not a good place.”

A “living museum” of plant collections and walking trails, the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden sits on land once used for farmland, strip mines and deep mines. It has since undergone work consisting of abandoned mine land cleanup and safety hazard removal.

On Monday, local and state officials met to discuss the second phase of the Botanic Garden, one of 14 mine reclamation projects in the state to receive a share of a $30 million federal grant from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Abandoned Mine Lands Economic Revitalization Pilot Program.

The second phase consists of expanding the garden by 66 acres, stabilizing and backfilling dangerous high wall areas, and planting trees, among other improvements. It is expected to take two years and cost roughly $716,000.

DEP spokesman John Poister said the 66 acres the garden is looking to reclaim consists of abandoned mine land.

“It’s surface mines with very high drop offs, what we call high walls, and areas that just can’t be used,” said Poister. “With the funds that we’re getting for this project, within a couple of years, that land will be ready for planting and for the expansion of the Botanic Garden.”

Reclamation of the area began in 2011 when the garden teamed up with a coal operator to re-mine some of the abandoned mines on its property. Recovery and sales from that process allowed for improvements in water quality and vegetation, and after that, the garden embarked on the acid mine drainage treatment project at the Lotus Pond, which was funded through grants.

“It’s a classic Pittsburgh story,” said board chairman Nelson Craige. “We’re taking something that was not so pretty, and turning into something that’s an economic asset that employs people and is beautiful.”

The Lotus Pond was a focal point of the garden’s first phase and a topic of discussion during Monday’s event. Guests were invited to tour the pond, in the Asian Woodland section of the garden, and learn about the treatment system.

The acid mine drainage passes through limestone to increase the water’s PH level and decrease its aluminum concentration, according to Hedin, who designed the system, which won a Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.

A component of the garden’s second phase will be a new and improved sludge control system for the pond.

“Prior to this project, the lifeless pond was nothing more than an unsightly liability,” said Eric E. Cavazza, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

“The system has restored water quality in both the stream and the pond, and the Lotus Pond now supports a healthy aquatic community.”

Source: (October 24, 2016) Trib Live

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