Reclamation work at the Pikeview Quarry northwest of Colorado Springs is winding down. The massive red dirt terraces look very different than they did for more than 100 years when limestone that helped build the city was being mined there.
Jerry Schnabel, who manages the quarry, said that’s because they’ve rolled out straw colored wood-based matting to keep the many pounds of newly planted seeds and tens of thousands of tiny trees and shrubs in place.
“It's really just a temporary erosion mat that will be green next year,” he said. "Then it will start to biodegrade in the third year and what you'll see is a grass slope and look as natural as possible.”
He said most of the work to prevent landslides and make sure the steep slope stays put is finished — and the company monitors it hourly, including after big rainstorms.
“After seven inches, there was no movement, no settlement, no signs of anything changing,” he said. “We've had a number of smaller rainfalls this year… if anything was shifting up here, we would know about it.”
Schnabel said they’ll finish up some drainage infrastructure. That involves moving rock they’ve been stockpiling for five years into areas that will channel water that runs off the quarry into retention ponds and a system of pipes to filter out debris before it goes into the city stormwater system. He expects that work to be complete by mid-September.
“Then we just water the grass and wait for it to grow,” he said. “And then we have a year's monitoring of the slope and the vegetation."
Later next year they expect to start the process with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety to release the permits and bonding requirements.
“Mining without reclamation is just wrong,” Schnabel said. “Here you see an example, this mine started 120 years ago and now it's finally being reclaimed. In the future it should go hand in hand. Mine a bit, then reclaim. Mine a bit (then reclaim). So that the visual scar doesn't stay as big as this one was.”
Once the state approves the reclamation work, the city will likely have the option to add it to its portfolio of park lands and potentially turn it into a mountain biking area.
