West Virginia landowner and conservationist, Robert Tinnell, created the beautiful, inspirational video above about his journey to restore biodiversity to a strip-mined – and thus nearly-barren – hilltop on his property.

At the beginning of the video, Mr. Tinnell speaks of how he remembers the now low-diversity area as once being a “mature forest with huge trees, cool laurel thickets, deep leaf litter, black dirt, and wet-weather springs that were home to salamanders.” Though he cannot quickly recreate such a complex ecosystem, he begins to restore the land by planting an acre of pollinator habitat; just one acre, but an acre that flourishes and inspires him to continue the intimidating work of restoring ecosystems on his land.