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llIRECT APPLICATION AND COMPOSTING <br />BIOSOLIDS, WOOD SNIPS <br />KEY TO MINELAND RECLAMATION <br />N 1974, the Climax Molybdenum <br />Company, then a subsidiary of t1MAX <br />Minerals Co., closed its Urad Mine Biosolids <br />near Berthoud Pass in Clear Creek <br />County, Colorado. Sixty years of hard and wood <br />rack mining had left roughly 234 acres <br />of tailings and other disturbed areas- residuals ~rom <br />to be reclaimed. The tailings -the waste <br />rock residue remaining after the ore is ex- mountain YeSOrt <br />tracted - provided a poor foundation for <br />plant growth, especially young trees, which communities are <br />could be uprooted in the strong winds that <br />Frequently buffet the slopes of the Rocky <br />M <br />i <br />h used to revegetate <br />ounta <br />ns. T <br />e best solution, it turned out, <br />was to spread waste rock from a nearby disturbed land at <br />mine over the tailings to provide a footing <br />for vegetation, apply a mixture of biosolids a hi <br />h altitude <br />and wood chips over the rock, then plant g <br />high-altitude grass seed and shrubs. Plant molybdenum <br />life flourished in this medium, and in seven <br />years -half of the projected time span for mine <br /> <br />the reclamation project -the Urad site was . <br />restored to a natural looking site that con- <br />tinues to flourish more than 25 years later. Z. MAYg011S, M. $charp, <br />The successful reclamation at the Urad <br />Mine made the biosolids/wood chips reveg- D. Olson and R. Tard <br />y <br />.. k r' ,, <br /> <br /> <br />etation approach a consideration for re- <br />claiming the Climax Molybdenum Mine <br />tailings near Leadville, Colorado. The Cli- <br />max Mine has almost 4,000 acres of dis- <br />turbed Land. Like the Urad mine, the condi- <br />tions are very harsh: The average growing <br />season is six to eight weeks, the average <br />temperature is 33°F and annual snowfall <br />averages 270 inches, <br />ANSWER TO BIOSOLIDS MANAGEMENT CRISIS <br />In the late 1980s, biosolids disposal costs <br />in Summit County, Colorado approached <br />$1,000/dry ton and all of the local wastewa- <br />tertreatment facilities were oxploring mon- <br />ey saving alternatives to landfilling. For ex- <br />ample, biosolids were composted and <br />stockpiled at the Summit County landfill <br />and used, even years later, to fertilize agri- <br />culturalfields,establish greens at the Cop- <br />per Mountain golf course, and amend the <br />soil at the award-winning Glenwood <br />Canyon Interstate Highway project along <br />Interstate 70. <br />Resort communities in Summit County - <br />Breckenridge, Dillon, Copper Mountain, <br />