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1 • <br />INTRODUCTION <br />The questions surrounding reclamation of surface-mined lands in the western <br />United States are forcing a re-evaluation of the out-dated and oft-misused <br />concepts of soil science and range ecology that have dominated federal land <br />management philosophies and those of the land-grant agricultural schools in <br />the past. The ideas of the past have not been 'wrong' in the sense that <br />they did not achieve desired goals, but they have been unsound from the vant- <br />age point of long-team land stability and productivity. While this longer <br />range perspective had previously been considered the responsibility of geolo- <br />gists, the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1970 <br />has now forced all federal agencies to adopt consideration of long-term <br />dynamics of soil and associated biota. <br />Since soil ages, their conditions of formation, and controlling substrate <br />and climatic conditions vary widely, it is necessary to evaluate potential <br />and procedures for reclamation on a regional basis. This point has been <br />fully developed by the National Academy of Sciences in their recent report <br />on rehabilitation potential for eastern coal lands (1974) and by the Stanford <br />Research Institute in their report on comparative effects of coal strip <br />mining (1974). Both reports have concluded that the most critical single <br />factor for determining reclamation potential is available moisture, although <br />in the Academy volume this was often confused H2th precipitation. I would <br />