Lake Fork of the Gunnison, outside of Lake City, CO. Photo © Barbara Hite.
Who is the WHWT?
The Western Hardrock Watershed Team (WHWT) provides important capacity-building support to rural mining communities. Made possible by an innovative partnership among the Office of Surface Mining, AmeriCorps VISTA, Trees Water & People, state mining offices and local community/watershed groups, the WHWT places year-long, college-trained OSM/VISTA Volunteer Watershed Development Coordinators with local groups working in communities impoverished by pre-regulatory mining activity in their home place/watersheds. Each placement is for a minimum of three years, requiring a commitment to capacity building and long-term improvement at each WHWT site.
Who Runs the WHWT?
Partnerships make the WHWT work: our only focus is to bring full-time, college-trained OSM/VISTA volunteers to the Hardrock Country of the Mining West. VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) is a national service program dedicated to fighting poverty and building capacity in grassroots community organizations (www.cns.gov).
The OSM Watershed Assistance initiative seeks to facilitate the reclamation of pre-regulatory abandoned mines, a challenge shared with state mining offices (www.osmre.gov). Trees, Water & People is a non-profit based in Colorado that serves as the fiscal sponsor for the WHWT (www.treeswaterpeople.org).
In Colorado, where the WHWT is beginning, the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety (DRMS) has pledged to support watershed groups participating in the WHWT by providing half of the $6,000 match required for each DRMS-approved OSM/VISTA position. The Colorado Watershed Assembly (www.coloradowater.org) provides the WHWT with office space and support.
WHWT OSM/VISTAs, May 2008:
WHWT OSM/VISTAs, May 2008: Logan Reese with the Coal Creek Watershed Coalition, Greg Zimmerman, Colorado Watershed Assembly; Torie Bowman, WHWT Support Coordinator; Grady Harper, North Fork River Improvement Association (L-R).
History of the WHWT
WHWT Director T. Allan Comp, Ph.D
The WHWT is currently 5 OSM/VISTA positions in Colorado and will expand to 15 sites before December 2008. We are also beginning contact with other Hardrock mining states, particularly Utah and New Mexico. The WHWT was founded and is directed by T. Allan Comp, Ph.D. of the OSM, at the request of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, to emulate the successes of the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team (ACCWT). Allan started the ACCWT in 2002 to provide rural Appalachian coal communities impoverished by environmental degradation and its consequences the help they need to make their home-place-watersheds healthier places to live and work. The ACCWT now trains and coordinates more than 50 full-time OSM/VISTA Volunteers who live in and work with their host communities to promote environmental and social change at the grassroots level. Please see www.accwt.org for more information.
Before starting the ACCWT, Allan's inspiration for these watershed teams and his experience in working with VISTA and OSM stems from the non-profit AMD&ART Project, which he originated and directed. A recipient of multiple awards, the AMD&ART Project continues to provide an example of innovative, multidisciplinary partnerships in reclamation and community revitalization.