United Mountain Defense conducts extensive monitoring and data collection to document the impacts of surface mining on Tennessee’s mountains and highland watersheds. UMD’s water monitoring program includes chemical monitoring, biological survey of macro invertebrate and visual stream assessment Other data collection includes ongoing aerial and on the ground monitoring of mine sites. UMD works in collaboration with leading scientists and university student volunteers. We offer mine site visits and tours on request and our field data is open source.
| Water Monitoring Program Aerial Monitoring On the Ground Monitoring Air Monitoring Fieldwork Report |
Water Monitoring Program
UMD monitors water quality in Tennessee’s coal impacted areas. We have sampled and tested water quality in streams in the New River Watershed, Elk Valley, the Eagan area of Claiborne County and after the TVA disaster in Roane County, TN. Test and data results are made available to TDEC and OSM and to members of the public either by request or through distribution online through our listserv and website. Our data advances science by providing a portrait over time of water quality in the Tennessee coalfields and of the impacts of surface mining and by providing samples for scientists and others to study. UMD’s water monitoring program includes three components:
- Chemical monitoring using a YSI digital monitor
- Biological survey of macro invertebrates
- Visual stream assessment
UMD, in partnership with Southwings, conducts regular flyovers of surface mine sites in Tennessee. These flyovers produce a record of high resolution photographs that provide season by season documentation of the progress and impact of surface mining in Tennessee. We publish these photographs online, submit them to government agencies, make them freely available to the public and publish them in the Tennessee Mountain Defender, our newspaper. Publication of our photographs educates the public, government agencies and increases scientific knowledge by providing a portrait over time of the impacts of surface mining on Tennessee’s mountain watersheds.
UMD conducts extensive on the ground photo documentation of the resources of the Cumberland Plateau and of the impacts of surface mining. Our photographs of landslides in the New River Watershed have been used by other organizations to support a Petition to designate the area unsuitable for surface mining. We publish our photographs in various web and print media, including our newspaper, the Tennessee Mountain Defender. We also lead public tours of mines and associated mining impacts in Tennessee.
Ground Photography
Dr. Joseph Schiller, PhD in Watershed Biology, in the Tacket Creek Mine in preparation for permit hearing
