Once a vast, barren strip mine, the difficult and lengthy process of reclamation has turned the Centralia Coal Mine in Washington into an enticing landscape of wide prairies, young forests, and many shimmering lakes glittering in a sea of green meadows. Huge herds of elk now roam, and bald eagles wheel through the skies. In this place once utterly obliterated by human industry, life has returned in force.
Now the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife wants to acquire the former mine and transform it into a Wildlife Area to help restore endangered species and open it to the public for outdoor recreation such as hiking, kayaking, and fishing. This is a fantastic opportunity for the region, and if you live in Washington I would greatly appreciate it if you wrote to your state representatives and the WDFW in support of the project.
I recently took a drive through this landscape along the county road, and though public access to the land is currently strictly prohibited I was able to get a tantalizing peak into this intriguing place with the help of a drone. I look forward one day to hiking through wildflowers and along serene lakeshores where once was naught but a barren wasteland.
For more info, about this and other WDFW land acquisition projects go here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/wdfw-lands/land-acquisitions
