(WASHINGTON) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced that the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has granted $125,000 to Rural Action, Inc., an Ohio watershed group, to help fund the cleanup of Monday Creek in Perry County in the Wayne National Forest.

"This is a great example of citizen stewards and government working together to improve the quality of life in local communities," said Norton.

The Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative makes funds available through cooperative agreements to not-for-profit organizations, especially small watershed groups, that undertake local acid mine drainage(AMD) reclamation projects. Applicants must have other partners, contributing either funding or in-kind services needed to complete the project.

Rural Action, Inc., based in Athens, Ohio, will use the grant at the Jobs Hollow Reclamation Project, where a lime kiln dust doser will be installed to treat the approximately 10.5 tons of acidity per year coming from Jobs Hollow. Once fully operational, the doser will treat approximately 8.5 miles of Monday Creek.

Other partners involved in the cleanup are the US Forest Service, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources Management and the Monday Creek Restoration Project. Total estimated cost of the project is $324,500.

More that 7500 miles of streams in Appalachia are impacted by acid mine drainage. Impacted streams typically have low pH levels and contain high concentrations of iron, manganese and other metals. These impacts render the streams incapable of supporting aquatic life.

"Appalachian states are working hard to abate or mitigate these acid mine drainage impacts assisted by a host of volunteer watershed groups and other state and Federal agencies," said Norton. "Working together, through a combination of state and federal grants and relying heavily on community involvement, we are slowly making significant progress in bringing our damaged streams literally back to life."

High resolution photos of AML problems are available online at www.osmre.gov.