The tulips were blooming along West Brady Street in Butler Tuesday morning. Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes events coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network in more than 193 countries.

Just in time for Earth Day, a coalition of conservation groups in Butler County and the surrounding region were awarded $1.17 million from the federal government to support environmental restoration efforts.

The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania was recently awarded the funding through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, from the federal Department of Agriculture through a national conservation program.

The Audubon Society plans on working with five area partners to help preserve streams and creeks in southeast Butler County that make up the Buffalo Creek Watershed. As part of the grant, the Audubon Society and its partners had to match the federal award, resulting in a total of $2.34 million.

“It's a unique water ecosystem and a lot of it is still intact so if we work together we could keep what's there and build up from it,” said Sarah Koenig, the Audubon's regional director. “We need to get in there and protect what's healthy and check on what's damaged. It's better to start from where we're at than if we let it degrade and then try to clean it up.”

Collaborative effort

The watershed, which includes Todd Nature Reserve, is situated in Armstrong and Butler counties, flushing out into the Allegheny River. Most of the land is privately owned, according to Koenig, requiring conservation groups to work with property owners on its efforts.

The project's funding will be split among the partners over five years. The first two years will be spent working with landowners on preventing things that contaminate freshwater like erosion, sedimentation and agricultural runoff that leach into and impact the water system, according to Koenig.

The final result is expected to be 1,000 acres of improved land and cleaner water and over 120 acres of preserved farmland in southwestern Pennsylvania. The money will be used to work with specific landowners to solve environmental issues, Koenig said.

“We're working with agriculture owners to create buffers on their property to stop this runoff, improving the environment,” she said. “How do we help farmers be more productive while also protecting the environment? Working with private landowners is going to be key to protecting it and improving the watershed and farms are so important.”

The award dovetails neatly into the organization's previous conservation efforts. The Audubon Society and volunteer-run nonprofit Butler-Freeport Community Trail Council were awarded a $54,000 preservation grant last year from the state to plant trees to provide a buffer against pollution and runoff along about six acres in the watershed.

The Audubon Society planted trees in its first acre in the fall around Todd Nature Reserve.

“Now that we're working together, we'll really build momentum,” Koenig said.

The next two acres will be in Corn Planter Run around Sarver in South Buffalo Township. Koenig said the group is currently working with a landowner to arrange that project and hopes they will be able to do it in May. But because of the coronavirus precautions that limit physical gatherings, volunteers may have to push planting back to the fall.

Koenig said the watershed overall is clean but requires constant work and attention to maintain the ecosystem's overall good health.

One of the other threats to the watershed are abandoned mines in the area that seep polluted drainage water into the surrounding streams and creeks, according to environmental organizations and the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

Koenig said more than 10 percent of the water collected in the watershed comes from abandoned mines.

“That would be a long-term goal, to figure out how to address the acid mine drainage. That's a pretty big one,” Koenig said, adding how she hopes they might be able to address the problem five years from now. “That's definitely more complicated and way more expensive.”

Dangerous legacy

The problem isn't unique to the Buffalo Creek Watershed. Across the county and region, a legacy of mining and industrialization over the last 100 years left its mark in endless orange-tinted streams filled with high acidic content lethal to aquatic life, according to the Slippery Rock Creek Watershed Coalition.

Called abandoned mine drainage, the problem will never go away and polluted water will forever spew out of these abandoned mines, said Tom Decker, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman.

Because mines are so common in the region and were mostly undocumented during periods of great industrial development, the state DEP is unable to provide the exact number of abandoned mines. The problem is permanent because rains constantly collect in abandoned mines, where pollutants mix with the water — like water going through coffee grounds.

In February 2018, investigators from the state DEP confirmed a mine blowout occurred in Connoquenessing Township between Boy Scout Run and Semiconon Lane. This blowout is an example of one of these undocumented, nameless mines.Residents at the time reported observing water with a muddy-brown color spewing from the rocky hillside and into Semiconon Run, eventually fouling up Little Connoquenessing Creek. At the time, the bureau announced a plan to undertake a $4,540 project to secure the mine's entrance and stop the foul flow. However, since then, state officials have been unable to do so, according to Decker.DEP recently started a project to install a permanent drain into the mine to try and collect the polluted runoff.In order to complete the process, the department had to drain water from the mine. But work was halted last month because of coronavirus precautions preventing physical gatherings.Once work can resume, the department plans to install a permanent drain and complete the mine seal.“Undocumented, abandoned small, country-bank or farmhouse coal-type mines are a common occurrence across Western PA,” Decker wrote in an email.Cleanup effortsThe story is nothing new for Wilbur Taylor, site manager of Jennings Environmental Education Center.The 300-acre state park in Brady Township is also the site of an abandoned coal mine that continues to produce acid water. The education center is also home to a remediation pond that filters toxic material out of the water before it flows out into streams.Known as the Brydon Coal Mine, the site was operated in the 1920s and 1930s, according to Taylor.“When it ceased operation, people just went home,” Taylor said. “No land reclamation, nothing to stop the abandoned mine drainage.”Like the Semiconon Run, the state attempted to plug the hole. The first effort was made in the 1970s, according to Taylor, adding how water always finds a way around obstacles. Known as Operation Scarlift, Taylor said the initial effort failed in the 1980s when the plug failed, thus requiring a new solution.The Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition was formed in response and the final result of the organization's efforts is a “vertical flow pond.” Rather than try and stop the polluted water from getting out, the system neutralizes the acidity of the water through limestone treatment. Oxygen is then added to the water, according to Taylor, to help the heavy metals separate from the water.Since then, the coalition completed more than 20 passive treatment systems in the Slippery Rock watershed, combating the largest source of pollution in the watershed, abandoned mine drainage. The organization is comprised of private and public partners.According to the coalition, about 4,000 acres — or 25 percent of the headwaters — are underlain by abandoned deep mine workings. Of those, about 8,000 acres — or 50 percent of the headwaters area — were formerly permitted for surface mining.In the recent past, the coalition noted there has only been limited active mining. However, in March the state DEP permitted Allegheny Mineral Corp. to mine an area near McConnells Mill State Park in Slippery Rock Township, Lawrence County, which is in the Slippery Rock watershed.Allegheny Mineral Corp. is listed as a partner of the coalition. But conservationists are hopeful public interest in clean environments will prevent the degradation of the state's natural resources.“People want to keep fishing and hunting and watching birds in the watersheds,” Koenig said, “and an important part of that is healthy streams and tree planting helps keep the streams healthy.”

Jennings Environmental Center in Brady Township has a three level remediation pond that filters toxic material from an abandoned coal mine out of the water before flowing out into streams. This was the scene Monday from a hiking trail near the center that lets visitors learn about the process.