Experimental Practices in Surface Coal Mining- Creating Wetland Habitat

In the minds of many people, surface mining has a negative connotation due to historic mining practices. However, increased regulation of mining activities, which followed the 1977 enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), has left to vast improvements in mining methods. In particular, the Act's stringent environmental protection performance standards for reclamation of disturbed areas have resulted in improved postmining land use practices.