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Award Winning Work

Swastika Mine and Dutchman Canyon Maintenance and Stream Restoration Project:
OSMRE Small Project Award 2023

The Swastika Mine and Dutchman Canyon Maintenance and Stream Restoration Project, designed by Oxbow Ecological Engineering and constructed by Sweatt Construction, mitigated storm damage to a stream channel reconfigured in 2012.  The new design keeps high flows from scouring buried coal waste in the stream banks and allows sediments to settle out and support vegetative growth. The project also addressed gullying in the surrounding upland areas with the addition of one-rock check dams and media lunas.

Project nomination
Press Release
OSMRE video
Project Photos

 

Cookes Peak Mine Safeguard Project:
NAAMLP Hardrock Safeguarding Award 2022

The Cookes Peak Mine Safeguard Project was a collaboration between the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management – Las Cruces District Office. The project entailed seven phases of construction that took place between 2014 and 2021, safeguarding more than 291 hazardous mine openings. These features were abandoned long ago and included adits, shafts, stopes, highwalls, and other dangerous conditions left over by legacy mining.

Project nomination
Press Release
Cookes Peak Mining District Location
Project Photos

 


The Swastika Mine and Dutchman Canyon Reclamation Project:
OSMRE Western Region Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Award 2021

The New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program completed the Swastika Mine and Dutchman Canyon Reclamation Project in 2013. A century of coal mining near the town of Raton, New Mexico left behind steep gob (waste) piles adjacent to a channelized ephemeral stream. The reclamation project entailed moving and contouring the exposed coal gob into geomorphic contours that blended with the surrounding natural terrain and capping it with soil. The stream was reconfigured from a straight channel into a sinuous configuration, while adding 300 feet to its length. And a ranch road that ran along the straightened channel was rerouted and engineered with proper grading and culvert crossings. At the nearby Dutchman Canyon Mine, a wetland was created to treat rerouted drainage water before it was released into the channel.

Project nomination
Press Release

MountainMadrid Low-Impact Stormwater Project

The Madrid Low-Impact Stormwater Project won the U.S Department of Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s Western Region Award in 2017.

Award nomination document
Award nomination video

Lake Valley Mine Safeguard ProjectsLake Valley Mine Safeguard Projects

The compilation of four mine safeguarding projects at Lake Valley won the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s National Award in 2015.
OSMRE Award press release

Harding Pegmatite Mine Safeguard ProjectHarding Pegmatite Mine Safeguard Project

The Harding Pegmatite Mine Safeguard Project won the National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs Small Project Award in 2013.
Summary and Photographs
NAAMLP Award (2013)
BLM Award (2014)

Yankee-Vukonich Coal Reclamation ProjectYankee-Vukonich Coal Reclamation Project

The Yankee-Vukonich Coal Reclamation Project won the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation National Award (Category II) in 2008.
Summary and Photographs

Real de Dolores Mine Safeguard ProjectReal de Dolores Mine Safeguard Project

The Real de Dolores Mine Safeguard Project won the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation National Award in 2007.
Presentation

Cerrillos South Mine Safeguarding ProjectCerrillos South Mine Safeguarding Project

The Cerrillos South Mine Safeguarding Project won the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Western Regional Award in 2004.

The Cerrillos Mining District is one of the oldest in the country.
Paper
Presentation

Sugarite Coal Mine Reclamation ProjectSugarite Coal Mine Reclamation Project

The Sugarite Gob Reclamation Project won both the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Western Regional Award and People’s Choice Award in 2002.   Summary and PhotographsThe steep slopes on which these coal gob piles were located made this a challenging reclamation project.
Presentation

Socorro West Mine Safeguarding ProjectSocorro West Mine Safeguarding Project

The Socorro West Mine Safeguarding Project won the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Western Regional Award in 1999. Located outside Socorro, New Mexico this project reclaimed 24 abandoned mine shafts, adits, and stope openings while preserving a highly significant bat habitat in the mine workings. Because the mine workings were home to a large population of bats, gates were constructed that allow ventilation and bat entry, but keep people safely out. The hibernating populations of Townsend’s big-eared bats have increased steadily since the mine features were protected with bat-compatible closures. The recovery of the bat populations at this abandoned mine site is a direct result of the well designed bat compatible closures applied to the mine openings.
Award Nomination

Gage Mine Safeguarding ProjectGage Mine Safeguarding Project

The Gage Mine Safeguarding Project won the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation National Award in 1994. The Gage Mining district is located in southwestern New Mexico.
Award Nomination