Land Management (effective September 26, 1978) and the regulations for the Fed- 

 eral Coal Management Program.'-^ The FWS recently developed" a set of Rapid 

 Assessment Methods (RAM) that could significantly assist FWS and BLM field 

 personnel in making decisions and solving problems related to selection of lands to 

 mine, ranking sites, arranging leases, and land reclamation. RAM provides analyti- 

 cal tools, including land cover maps, existing resource data, and several ecological 

 analysis and decision-oriented models. 



The greatest disturbance of western lands has occurred within the grassland 

 ecosystems of the Northern Great Plains and the Sagebrush Steppe vegetation unit 

 of the Intermountain Regions. Limited precipitation and poor spoil characteristics 

 result in slow natural revegetation. Therefore, reclamation of mined land must be 

 performed under strict regulations to ensure maximal results. '^•'^'''' 



Dittberner^ reported extensive literature on the propagation of western native 

 plants. Evans, et al.'^ stated that several research studies conducted at large coal 

 mines in the Four Corners area have revealed that soil moisture conditions can be 

 enhanced by mulches and irrigation. Although reclamation programs at inventoried 

 phosphate mines were generally designed to return mined land to a rangeland 

 ecosystem with grazing as the land-use objective, several mines included provisions 

 for wildlife migration routes and wildlife use. Big game species such as deer(0(^/fciro/- 

 leus hemionus), elk {Cervus elaphus), and moose {Alces alces) have been reported at 

 all inventoried mining sites in Idaho. 



A state game management area resulted from local reclamation efforts in North 

 Dakota.'^ Trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species were planted by community groups. 

 A large variety of wildlife now utilize the area. In some portions of North Dakota, 

 sand and gravel pits contribute the only permanent wildlife habitat for extensive 

 areas.'** Because prairie dogs(Ci770/?n'.s liuiovicianus and gunnisoni) constitute 50% 

 of the diet of golden eagles (/I (/f//7a chrysaeios). past destruction of large prairie dog 

 towns must be compensated for. Eagle nest relocation seems successful (Denver 

 Wildl. Res. Center, 1976b; Tyus and Lockhart, 1979). The application of the man- 

 date for "lands unsuitable" should mediate such problems in the future. 



Surveys were conducted from 1975 through 1978 in Montana to gather informa- 

 tion on the effects of surface mining on pronghorn ante\ope {Aniilocapraamericana) 

 habitat.'"* Identified animals left ranges when mining increased, but returned the 

 following winter. 



During the seventies, there have been extensive efforts to reclaim Midwest mined 

 land for wildlife. These efforts have emphasized selected plant species, alleviation of 

 acid spoil and water, re-introduction of native species, and compilation of baseline 

 data.'»''*'2o,2i,22 While Grandt-'' found that row crop yields on newly mined and 

 graded lands were lower than county-wide levels, DeknataP emphasized that non- 

 agricultural uses were in competition with crop production. 



While the need for agriculture should not be ignored, a determined effort should 

 continuously be made to include wildlife habitat in reclamation land-use plans. 

 Several studies have demonstrated that provisions for wildlife habitat can be incor- 

 porated into a wide variety of planned land uses. ".--%''' Wildlife habitat can be 

 considered not only a secondary reclamation alternative; it can also be a primary 

 objective (where prime agricultural lands do not have priority) because of the 

 relatively low cost compared to other uses. Indeed, naturally revegetated land often 

 yields adequate to excellent wildlife habitat, thereby drastically reducing reclama- 

 tion costs, in other situations, only minor effort is required to facilitate vegetation 

 establishment and/ or manipulation on spoilbanks. On naturally revegetated mined 

 land in southern Indiana, 45 percent of the plant species were found to be useful as 

 fruit, forage, or cover for wildlife.-^ 



The response of wildlife to differing reclamation strategies has been documented. 

 Konik^x characterized quality water and associated fauna and flora. He concluded 



187 



