photo by: Photo submitted by Mid-States Materials

Mid-States Materials has reclaimed 184 acres of Big Springs Quarry in west Douglas County as a wildlife refuge. The reclamation project, which recently won a national award, included three ponds that have be stocked with fish and the seeding of the site to support quail and pheasant populations.

Cole Andersen has overseen scores of reclamations of mined-out quarries, but the one completed at a site on the western edge of Douglas County is special to him.

“Absolutely,” said the environmental, health and safety manager for Mid-States Materials LLC. “The end use is so unique. I’m out there all the time. It’s absolutely beautiful.”

The project reclaimed three phases of Mid-States’ Big Springs Quarry in Douglas County as a wildlife refuge, Andersen said. The 2,000-acre quarry sits astride the Douglas-Shawnee county line on North 1750 Road, about 3 miles west of Stull.

With the reclamation complete, the 184 acres of mined-out quarry ground now have three fish-stocked ponds, while a mix of prairie grasses and specially selected trees covers the glaciated hills of the site, Andersen said. There is no public access to the reclamation site.

Rich Eckert, general counsel for Mid-States Materials’ parent company Bettis Asphalt and Construction, of Topeka, said quarried ground is usually leased rather than purchased to reduce the risk of operators who can’t be certain how much rock is below the surface. It is the property owners who decide how the land will be reclaimed. Agricultural reuses are the most common, with pasture reclamation being popular, although the company recently reclaimed a site for row-crop production, he said.

The wildlife refuge was tailored as a habitat for quails and pheasants. To accomplish that, Mid-States consulted with Quail Unlimited on the right vegetation to provide the birds food and cover. The acres were sowed with a mix of prairie grass and wildflower with oats, Andersen said.

Mid-States also consulted with K-State about the right trees to plant on the site, Andersen said. The American plum tree was chosen for its survivability and the cover it provides birds.

Company employees spent more than 10,000 hours on the reclamation, planting 900 trees, stocking the three ponds with 100,000 fish, regrading the mined-out acres, covering the land with topsoil and reseeding the site, Andersen said. Incubated quails and pheasants have been released and are starting to thrive on the reclaimed site.

“There is a steady population,” he said. “We see them here and there, but they do like to stay hidden.”

Other wildlife have found the site to their liking, Andersen said. There are populations of deer and wild turkey, and there is a plan to establish prairie chickens, he said.

Mid-States has moved on to open other quarry phases at the Big Springs Quarry, Andersen said. Those, too, are in Douglas County and also will be reclaimed as a wildlife refuge once the limestone in the three sites is mined.

The unique wildlife refuge reclamation at Big Springs hasn’t gone unnoticed in the industry, Andersen said. Mid-States won three Governor’s Mined Land Reclamation Awards for the three phases at Big Springs Quarry, Andersen said. It then bundled the three phases and submitted the project for a National Association of State Land Reclamationists award, and was recently informed the project won the association’s 2018 Outstanding Reclamation Award in the noncoal division, he said.

Andersen said reclamation wasn’t distinct from day-to-day quarrying operations, but part of the ongoing process as limestone was mined. The topsoil stripped from above the rock is stockpiled in berms for future reclamation use. The berms, which also serve to screen the noisy quarry operations from neighbors, are seeded with vegetation as a safeguard from erosion, he said.

Reclamation is required by law, but Mid-States goes beyond statutory requirements, Andersen said.

“The main goal is to leave something for future generations,” he said. “We want to do the right thing as a company.”

Quality reclamation also is in the best interest of a company that operates 20 quarries in Kansas and western Missouri, Eckert said.

“At any given moment, we are trying to open one or two quarries,” he said. “Landowners want to know what is going to happen to the land. We have to show them what we’ve done in the past. It’s a marketing tool when you can show them we take care of the land.”

Andersen said that marketing effort often means showing the Big Springs Quarry to landowners.

“Big Springs is one of our biggest quarries,” he said. “It’s our showcase quarry, and now it has our showcase reclamation.”