Christmas tree production can be an excellent use for reclaimed mined lands in Virginia. Most species do quite well on mine soils because they are more tolerant of infertile and droughty conditions than agricultural or horticultural crops, yet they do respond to active management. Christmas trees can be harvested within seven to 10 years, while timber crops take much longer to mature. For the person with time to invest, Christmas trees can be an ideal way to put small parcels of reclaimed mined lands to profitable use. Individual growers can conveniently maintain up to 5 acres of trees in their spare time.

This publication describes procedures for revegetating surface coal mine reclamation sites with grasses and herbaceous legumes.

This publication describes procedures for re-establishing native forest trees on surface coal mine reclamation sites in southwestern Virginia and elsewhere in Appalachia.

This publication describes procedures for preparing mined lands to serve industrial sites by ensuring adequate geotechnical stability for that purpose, and for converting mined lands that were reclaimed for other purposes to industrial uses.

This publication describes procedures for treating and renovating water quality of acid-mine drainage discharges using "passive treatment" technologies such as constructed wetlands.

This publication describes plant communities occurring on mine sites that were reclaimed during different eras, and using different reclamation methods.

The development of Southwest Virginia’s coal mining region is limited by a lack of building sites. Much of the land in this region consists of steep slopes with shallow soils that are poorly suited to residential development. In recent years, widespread surface coal mining has created landforms that are favorably located and configured to support residential housing. However, because such sites are commonly located beyond the extent of public sewers, developing them requires a means for on-site wastewater treatment and dispersal. This publication is written for homeowners, homebuilders, land developers, public officials, and others who may have an interest in building residential housing or other types of development on mined lands that are not accessible to public sewers.

This publication describes procedures for converting reclaimed mined lands that are unmanaged into productive forest ecosystems with native trees as dominant vegetation.