Kind Kids Save A Mountain!
Students at Wallins Creek School in Harlan County, Kentucky found out that mining companies wanted to start strip mining on Black Mountain, Kentucky's highest peak. Black Mountain is part of a very beautiful wilderness area near their home. Strip mining would have been very destructive.
The students, who come from one of the poorest areas in the nation, decided to dosomething to stop the destruction. The seventh grade class created a class project to save Black Mountain. And they did!
With little money they started a statewide grassroot movement that led to a an environmental victory. In April, 10 coal companies agreed to save 1,850 acres at the top of Black Mountain from logging and strip mining. They also agreed that there would be no new mining on an additional 12,000 acres, and an 18,915-acre conservation area would be created. In June, 1999, one hundred thousand dollars in federal grant money was obtained to build a landmark.
The story of the students victory was told on ABC's Nightline. On the show, one boy being interviewed said, "It feels like we’ve fought a war and won."
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