CONSOL Energy’s, the largest producer of high-Btu bituminous coal in the USA, Fola Coal Co Surface Mine 6 in Bickmore, West Virginia, has been presented with the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative’s Excellence in Forestry Award for 2007. The award, presented by the US Office of Surface Mining (OSM), on behalf of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI), recognises exemplary efforts in forestry reclamation. The ARRI, an OSM initiative, is a coalition of groups, including citizens, the coal industry, and government, dedicated to restoring forests on coal mined lands in the Eastern US.

The award has been presented annually since 2005 to individuals, operators and/or organisations, and was created to acknowledge and give public recognition to those responsible for Appalachia’s most outstanding achievements in forestry reclamation and to encourage the exchange and transfer of successful reforestation technology. Fola Coal was nominated for the award by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. In January, Fola Coal also won the West Virginia Foresters Association Excellence in Forestry Award. Fola Coal has planted more than four million trees on the company’s surface mine property in West Virginia through various reclamation efforts and other events. The company has previously participated in other tree planting outings and in other environmental initiatives, including projects with Ducks Unlimited and the National Wild Turkey Federation.