The 2025 Pennsylvania Reforestation Symposium, held Aug. 5–7 in Altoona, PA, brought together public and private partners engaged on reforestation of legacy mined lands in Pennsylvania and throughout the Appalachian region to celebrate successes, share lessons learned and provided a platform to guide future efforts. PEC served on the planning committee and sponsored the event along with Green Forests Work (GFW), the Appalachian Regional Restoration Initiative (ARRI), the Institute for Conservation Leadership, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds (FPW), and Earth Wise Consulting (EWC).
PEC has a history of working with partners to reforest abandoned mine lands and is now working with GFW on a project funded by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to scale up this work throughout the region. Across the Commonwealth nearly 250,000 acres of mine lands have been abandoned, most of which have only been partially restored.
“As someone who has long been interested in reforestation but does not have an educational background in forestry, I found the 2025 Pennsylvania Reforestation Symposium incredibly interesting and valuable,” said PEC Program Zhenya Nalywayko. “Beyond the engaging presentations from professionals with deep experience in the field and site visits to reforestation projects in a variety of abandoned mine land contexts, the impromptu conversations with fellow attendees over meals and at the after-hours social events were some of the most memorable experiences I got out of it.”
More than 60 people participated in the Symposium’s various offerings. Sponsor support allowed the planning committee to make the event free, which helped boost attendance, especially for Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources and Game Commission employees.
Tuesday, Aug. 5, included a full day of presentations on various reforestation topics. The Symposium offerings encouraged valuable conversation on a variety of topics including the land use impacts from strip mining for coal, the history and status of reclamation efforts, permitting challenges, funding challenges and opportunities, and carbon markets among others. PEC facilitated a panel on a successful partnership with the Altoona Water Authority and Bryn Mawr College. John Walliser, PEC Senior Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs, joined Dr. Roth for a presentation on the permits and regulations that groups are likely to face during reforestation project planning.
Tuesday concluded with an optional outing to watch the Altoona Curve take on the Hartford Yard Goats in a minor league (AA) baseball game.
Wednesday, Aug. 6, featured outings to some of GFW’s reforestation sites. One of those sites included an area known as Round Knob in Huntingdon County. In 2019, PEC worked with partners to plant 23,900 seedlings across 36 acres that had been mined for coal over five decades. The project marked PEC’s first reforestation of private land and led to new strategic partnerships. As part of the remediation effort, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection installed a passive water treatment system to mitigate mine drainage from a tributary of the West Branch Juniata River. The reforestation team also applied biochar, a form of charcoal rich in carbon, to test its effect on seedlings. Many of the trees at the site have grown 15–20 feet.
Another site, located on land owned by the Altoona Water Authority (AWA) in Blair County, marks PEC’s largest reforestation project to date. With funding from Bryn Mawr, volunteers in 2022 planted 144,625 seedlings across four sites. Totaling 185 acres, the land drains into Kittaning Run that, once clean, will provide 3.6 million gallons of drinking water per day. Because of AWA’s collaborative approach, PEC awarded the water authority the Excellence in Partnership award during our 2024 Western Pennsylvania Dinner.
After a long but fulfilling day of field trips on Wednesday, PEC sponsored a happy hour at Levity Brewing to unwind and reflect.
The Symposium ended on Thursday, Aug. 6, with a morning of further reflection on how to transform the ideas shared into action items. To meet internal sustainability goals, there’s interest in pulling more universities and colleges into reforestation of abandoned mine lands, which can build off the model piloted by PEC, Bryn Mawr, and the Altoona Water Authority. PEC is initiating follow-up conversations with colleges, universities, funders, and reforestation partners around this topic.
“This gathering of public and private stakeholders engaged in reforestation of legacy mined lands throughout Pennsylvania generated new energy, ideas and partnerships that will boost efforts to scale up this important work, restoring native forests that provide clean air and water, sequester carbon, support diverse species of wildlife, and bring outdoor recreation and economic benefits to local communities,” said PEC President Tom Gilbert.
Participants voiced interest in holding another Pennsylvania Reforestation Symposium in the next one to two years, perhaps next time during ripping season (September and October) to allow attendees to see a ripping project in action. PEC will remain involved with GFW and other partners to help plan future events.
For more information on PEC’s history of reforestation work, see our interactive StoryMap.