DEVELOPING A GEOSPATIAL DECISION TOOL FOR DATA-BASED PRIORITIZATION AND TRACKING OF REMEDIATION AND ASSESSMENTS OF HAZARDS POSED BY MINED LANDS IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES

Mined lands, including surface and subsurface operations, can pose potential environmental and human hazards; thus, there is broad interest in the reclamation potential of active and abandoned mined lands. However, centralized data and metrics for mined lands regarding their location, characteristics, reclamation status, and associated human and environmental hazards are lacking. To address this shortcoming, the USGS is developing a decision support tool to deliver pertinent hazard and reclamation metrics for use by mined land managers and decision-makers. The application leverages existing national geospatial datasets to identify potential hazards and risks to vulnerable communities and prioritize and track remediation activities. Moreover, this tool will allow users to generate metrics that can assist decision-makers in evaluating the impacts of climate change on mined lands and monitor the effectiveness of mined land reclamation projects. Field activities in 2023-2024 will leverage application-derived metrics to prioritize locations for study in the Colorado River Basin and Appalachian regions. This project is a partnership between the USGS, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Reclamation, National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Iterative and collaborative development with partners will assure a robust web application that presents useful information regarding mined lands, supporting well-informed decision-making processes.