ABSTRACT
For many years the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been helping private-land owners restore their surface-mined land as part of their regular programs of wise land use and conservation treatment. Since most surface-mined land is privately owned, opportunity for improvement lies largely in local assistance programs of mutual interest and value to landowners and their neighbors—the kind of program already being carried on by the Nation’s 3,000 soil and water conservation districts and by State forestry agencies with USDA help. Surface mining in some areas is a source of water pollution, mainly sediment and to a less extent acid. Of the sites surveyed, 56 percent showed no pollution; 23 percent showed some intermittent pollution; and 21 percent produced considerable pollution. Federal and State agencies should make use of experience gained in activities closely related to surface mining as guides to assistance in surface-mining operations and conservation.
