ABSTRACT
Following the passage of SMCRA, significant university research on water quality compliance and revegetation strategies was supported by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining in the 1980s and 1990s and results were applied throughout the region. These efforts included work at the University of Kentucky by Barnhisel et al. (2000) on the nature of acidic spoils in the region and by Evangelou (1995) on the basic reaction chemistry of pyrite and solution interactions. Parallel efforts by the U.S. Forest Service to reclaim mined lands to forest uses were led by William Plass and others and they eventually spearheaded efforts that led to the formation of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR; www.asmr.us).
