Vegetation and Tree Survey of a Brownfield Site Inhabited by Unhoused People in East Kalamazoo

Abstract

From 1911 to the early 1970s, the Riverview Eastside Site (RES) was used as a coal ash disposal site for a coal-fired power plant. In 2002, over 100 thousand tons of coal ash were removed from the site and a 4-6 inch cap of topsoil was deposited over the remaining ash. The site is now the location of a growing encampment of unhoused peoples. The purpose of our research was to survey the plant life of the RES to inform future remediation plans centered around phytoremediation, the use of plants to store or neutralize toxic compounds in the soil.