RECLAMATION OF THE LANDSCAPE 353 



BENJAMIN LINSKY. Two points: One, a comment, emphasizing 

 the point that was brought up before by one of the members of the 

 audience. In flatland areas such as Detroit where I grew up, it 

 may be of value to develop and reclaim quarries and instead of 

 stopping at grade, going up and developing some hills which would 

 have scenic value as picnic areas. 



Something comparable has already been done, at Rouge Park, 

 where a solid toboggan slide is built of rubbish and makes a nice 

 picnic hill in the summer. 



The second point, I think, came out of the audience response to 

 your panel. The economic choices, as to the costs, ought to be 

 presented much more often in terms that are realistic to the con- 

 sumer, such as the added amount on your electricity bill, for the 

 average family per month. Added cost-per-ton of coal for cleaner 

 air or restored mining surface means nothing to him; he cannot trans- 

 late it without a good deal of instruction or research. 



Statements Submitted for the Record 



SAUL B. COHEN. I suggest that the panel consider recommending 

 the establishment of a National Spoil Reclamation Bank, to grapple 

 in a bold and imaginative way with the major problem of coal spoils 

 and other mine tailings. Punitive measures in State codes that levy 

 fines are inadequate to the task. In West Virginia, fines of $25 per 

 acre are hardly a deterrent to the owner, when spoil reclamation may 

 cost $250 per acre. A Federally sponsored and funded Spoil Bank, 

 organized to match owners' reclamation investments (which, in turn, 

 can be provided with tax benefits), seems to offer the strongest and 

 perhaps the only assurance of solving this aspect of the rural land- 

 scape reclamation problem. 



MILO W. HOISVEEN. Criteria regarding the leveling of spoil banks 

 and abandoned channels created through the construction of drain- 

 age canals and river channel changes have improved greatly in recent 

 years. 



It can be further improved to remove ugliness. Areas where spoil 

 piles exist should be leveled to blend in with the topography of the 

 existing land which will permit seeding to useful purposes and thereby 

 eliminate a noxious weed problem area. Channel straightening has 

 in many instances been a necessary adjunct to eliminate floods ; how- 

 ever, in many instances the abandoned segments of the channels have 



