Mining inevitably disturbs land. Modern mines reclaim the surface during and after mining is completed, returning the land to useful purposes.  Following is information about a few of the many mined land reclamation success stories. Note the differences in the pictures between how the land looks during mining and how it looks after mining.  The reclaimed mine lands are usually more attractive to wildlife and human uses than before mining started. 

	Alabama Surface Coal Mining Commission. Strip and cluster plantings of selected wildlife trees and habitat provide diversity, which will be useful to a variety of indigenous wildlife species.
	Coal Combustion Products are produced from the combustion of coal, the principal fuel source for today’s electric energy needs.
	Coal Mining Reclamation. Most lands reclaimed after coal mining are "invisible" - the land is returned to a condition matching or improving its original use.
	Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. An abandoned coal mine reclamation project in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, has restored state game lands and transformed environmental and public safety hazards into a wildlife paradise.
	Post-Mining Land Use  Steve H. Dula, President and General manager, Hobet Mining Inc., a subsidiary of Arch Coal of West Virginia, presented a talk "A historic and operational perspective of post-mining land use" to the Fall 2002 joint meeting of the West Virginia coal Mining Institute and Central Appalachian Section of the Society of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The talk described successful reclamation.
	Reclamation and Farming. In Illinois and other states, formerly mined lands are successfully used for farming and livestock grazing. Often yields from reclaimed lands are higher than undisturbed land.
	Reclamation in the West. Coal producers have achieved notable success in returning mined land to productive use.
	Protecting the Wildlife. Mining and wildlife can be compatible. In North Dakota and other states, wildlife populations are higher on reclaimed land than before the land was mined.
	Surface Mining Techniques. Three coal mining techniques are pictured: mountain top mining, coal seam blasting, and dragline. Descriptions about how these techniques work are shown.

More land reclamation success stories for coal mines.