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 Welcome
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The mission of the Forest Service Minerals & Geology
Management (MGM)
Program is to provide for the
sustainable use and enjoyment of mineral and geologic
resources on the National Forests. An important
part of that mission is the restoration
of land disturbed by historic mining
activities.
 The
National Forests total over 188 million acres
of land,
mostly in the
Western US.
In 1995
the USDA Forest
Service, using data compiled by the US
Bureau of Mines, estimated the number of
abandoned mines inside
National Forest boundaries as follows:
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There were
38, 991
total abandoned mine sites…
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13,
597
or 34%
of the total were mines
with records of mineral
production.
Many involved
minerals like arsenic, cadmium, copper,
lead, mercury and zinc which can cause human health and environmental
impacts.
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1,347
or
3.5%
of the total were
placer mines which typically cause in various levels of physical
disturbance to stream channel, floodplain and
riparian environments.
Heritage,
Hazards & Habitat
Unlike today, the
mining impacts on the environment even 50 years ago were
not a serious public concern, nor were
they regulated by state or
federal law.
As a result, along with the legacy of
wealth and development, the boom
and bust of
mineral development left behind
thousands of
abandoned mines on private
and
public lands. Today
these
abandoned mines are a mixed
heritage.
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Historic Resources |
Wildlife Habitat. |
Acid Drainage |
Safety Hazards |
The Forest Service in its AML
Program seeks to minimize the
human health and safety hazards
at abandoned mines, while
preserving the historic and
wildlife habitat resources that
they provide.
Site
Organization
Abandoned Mine
Lands
- Provides an orientation to the Minerals &
Geology Management AML Website. It also provides
links to information on the staff, and restoration and reclamation work
being done in the nine Forest Service Regions.
AML Program -
These pages
showcase the work being done to restore abandoned mines on the National
Forests.
Policy & Authority- This page will provide information about the
laws, regulations and policies involved in active and abandoned mine
restoration and reclamation.
Projects - Describes the work being done on the
ground in the 9 Forest Service Regions.
Resources
- This page
describes tools and information useful in identifying, designing and
performing AML safety mitigation, restoration and active mine
reclamation work.
Links - M&G
related information available on the internet in the categories of
Agencies, Legal, Industry Environment, Geology, Technical, Government
and Recreation.
Other -
Ideas for other pages are welcome.
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