are slightly more fertile than mine waste banks, and 

 some could be successfully planted. But the deep 

 ditches (fig. 8) are difficult planting sites. These 

 strippings, together with the mine waste banks, now 

 cover some 100,000 acres. 



Fires 



Fire has been the chief enemy of the Anthracite 

 Forest Region for years, especially in the coal-field 

 forests. Large unbroken areas of young growth give 

 fire a free sweep. The land surface is abnormally 

 dry, partly as a result of underground drainage into 

 the mines. Furthermore, clear-cut areas on which 

 slash has been left where it fell are particularly sus- 

 ceptible to fire. The fire hazard is everywhere. Add 

 to that a dense population and fire becomes almost 

 inevitable. 



Fires in the coal-field forests have serious conse- 

 quences. They may ignite the coal deposits or get 

 into mine waste banks and burn for decades. They 

 may destroy mine ventilator shafts, and smoke from 

 fires may seep into the mines. Destruction of humus, 

 brush, and other ground cover by fire allows rainfall 

 to run off rapidly. Such runoff finds its way readily 

 through crevices into the mines, aggravating an 

 already mounting problem of mine-water control. 



In the 30-year period 1913-42 there were nearly 

 28,000 forest fires in the 6 principal coal-producing 

 counties (Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna. Luzerne, 

 Northumberland, and Schuylkill), and an average 

 of about 37,900 acres was burned each year in those 

 counties alone. (These figures include some acreage 

 that lies outside the coal fields, but the majority of the 

 fires originated within that area.) fires occur repeat- 

 edly in the same places, but even SO, the acreage th.it 

 has been burned over at least once during the pasl 

 30 \ears is staggering. 



The seriousness of forest fires in the co.il-licid area 



is emphasized by comparison with the fire situation 

 in the rest of the Anthracite forest Region and in 

 the Stale as a whole. During the same 30-year 

 period the six coal- producing counties (although they 

 contain but 44 percent of the forest land of the region 

 and onl\ ( > percent of the forest land of the State) 

 reported 81 percent of the forest fires in the region 

 and 34 percent of (lie forest tires in the Slate. In 



terms of acres, 75 percent of the area burned annually 

 in the Anthracite Foresl Region ,\w.\ 23 percent <A' 



the area burned in the Slate lies within these si\ 



counties. 



Floods and Landslides 



Floods have occurred in the region as long as the 

 white man has known it. There is record of a flood 

 in the Lehigh Valley as early as 1786. The destruc- 

 tiveness and frequency of these floods have been in- 

 creasing. A flood in the Lehigh Valley in 1942 

 caused damage estimated at more than $5,500,000. 

 A serious flood in the Susquehanna Valley in 1936 

 poured 10 billion gallons of water into a mine near 

 Pittston; the same flood overflowed downtown 

 Wilkcs-Barre. 



Research has shown that the rapidity of water 

 runoff and the danger of floods is greatly increased 

 by the destruction of humus in headwater areas. 

 It is reasonably certain that the floods in the Anthra- 

 cite Region are due in part to this cause. Clear- 

 cutting and fires have destroyed the humus in many 





1 u.i (U ". / I) ... . ■ 



The Anthracite Forest Region 



780540 is 



.1 Piohl, m Area 



