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The Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team

 

In a region devastated by the environmental legacy of pre-regulatory coal mining and suffering from economic decline, the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team (ACCWT) helps bring hope to rural communities by building local organizational capacity and partnerships. The Team coordinates a dynamic, successful group of 55 OSM/VISTA volunteers who live and work in Appalachian host communities to promote social and environmental change at the grassroots level.

Through innovative partnerships between the Office of Surface Mining, AmeriCorps*VISTA, and coal country watershed groups, the ACCWT works to target problems associated with the legacy of pre-regulatory coal-mining in Appalachian watersheds – devastated landscapes, flows of acidic, metals-laden water (acid mine drainage or AMD), and depressed economies suffering from disinvestment in the post-coal-boom era. Today the Team serves eight Appalachian states (AL, KY, MD, OH, PA, TN, VA and WV).

Founded in response to requests from watershed groups throughout coal country, the work of the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team supports a growing movement that is quietly bringing new strength and new hope to the Appalachian region. The work of the Watershed Team arms citizen groups with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to make them effective environmental stewards, community leaders, and accelerators of change. Together, the Team and its local partners are propelling a new Appalachian economy based on conservation and development, strong partnerships, and new hope.

Founded and directed by Dr. T. Allan Comp, the ACCWT and Allan are both recipients of numerous national awards. The ACCWT was named the Governmental Partner of the Year by the National Summit of Mining Communities in 2006 and received the U.S. Department of the Interior Environmental Achievement Award in 2004. Allan's work with his AMD&ART Project won a Green Design Award from the PA Environmental Council and the prestigious Phoenix Award from the EPA Brownfields Program, among others.

Read more about Allan's work with AMD & ART and the ACCWT in Orion Magazine!