This photograph from the National Archives shows two scientists on a culm bank near Hazleton, Pennsylvania in April 1940. As the anthracite industry waned in the mid-20th century, efforts began to reclaim the scarred landscape back to healthy forests throughout the Coal Region.

Original caption:

“Mr. R.D. Forbes, in charge of the anthracite survey [of the Forest Service], and Mr. Carl Ostrom, soil expert, examining pitch pine and gray birch growth on a 25-year-old refuse bank near Hazleton, PA (a 30% slope).

Taken by B.W. Muir – April 1940″

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Read more about environmental stories from the Coal Region

“Killed all the fish for miles around” – A lament for Coal Region waterways – 1895

Viewing Centralia and its ongoing mine fire as a historic site

A 1938 photograph shows desolate Coal Region landscape during the Great Depression

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