Abandoned Mine Lands

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting an Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Initiative during the fiscal years 1997 through 2001 to provide technical assistance in support of Federal Land Management Agency (FLMA) actions to remediate contamination associated with abandoned hard rock mining activities. This initiative is part of a larger strategy by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to coordinate activities for the cleanup of federal lands affected by AML. The strategy will employ a watershed approach, in which contaminated sites are identified and remediated based on their effect on the water and ecosystem quality of a targeted watershed. The initiative will be implemented on a pilot scale in two watersheds, the Boulder River basin in southwestern Montana and the Upper Animas River basin in southwestern Colorado.

Rocky Mountain Mapping Center's role focuses on the collection and integration of base cartographic data and scientific information into a geographic information system database, and on performing geospatial analysis in order to better understand the relationships between the various types of scientific information contained in the GIS database. Results from these analyses will provide input to the managers of the lands affected by abandoned mines and mine-related sites, and will contribute to the making of sound decisions in the remediation of these lands. An initial example of this type of data analysis was performed in order to demonstrate how stream water quality and mine-related sites may be related.

Project Lead: Carl Rich

Please visit the official USGS AML web site:
http://amli.usgs.gov/amli/

U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
Rocky Mountain Mapping Center
URL: http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/html/aml/index.html
Maintainer: rtpelltier@usgs.gov
Last modified: 22 Dec 1999