USING COMPUTER TOOLS AND DATABASES TO DEVELOP SOIL RECONSTRUCTION PLANS FOLLOWING SURFACE COAL MINING

摘要

Passage of PL- 95-87 in 1977 (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act) confirmed the intentions of Congress regarding how soils disturbed during surface mining for coal will be reconstructed to achieve productivity levels approximating that of original soil. To achieve the legislation goals, land use managers are expected to use available technical information consistently across large and diverse geographic areas. Soil computer models and programs help people quickly and accurately evaluate characteristics of the selected land areas. Such models must put forward a reliable and integrated approach for using soil chemical and physical properties, landscape features, soil productivity information, and climate data and if needed, economic considerations. The models must also be flexible enough for selection of small to large geographical sites or tracts. The Soil Data Mart (SDM), Web Soil Survey (WSS), National Commodity Crop Productivity Index (NCCPI), and Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) are models and programs that generate information to assist in making wise land use decisions. The LESA and the NCCPI model compare the relative values for different soils or geographical areas. The LESA program requires significant user input and results vary based on the objective of the user. The objective is to reconstruct the original cropland, rangeland, woodland, hayland, or pastureland soils to their expected levels of productivity. The SDM, WSS, NCCPI, and LESA models and programs furnish numerical soil information to answer questions that land use managers of coal companies must defend or explain to government agencies and the general public during the development of the plan for soil reconstruction following surface mining for coal.