GIS and Environmental Decisionmaking to Aid Smelter Reclamation Planning

Abstract

Abandoned mines and mining-related activities typically cause environmental problems related to erosion and pollutant transport. Traditional methods of smelter reclamation plan design are hampered by the lack of data integration and by time-consuming analysis. The proposed spatial decision-support system will minimize these problems as data integration and analysis are offered within one computerized environment. A geographical information system (GIS), remotely sensed data, erosion modeling, and multicriteria decisionmaking (MCDM) methods have been integrated to support reclamation procedures better. Integration of the digital data sources and analysis will produce more realistic, up-to-date models of damaged lands. This methodology is applicable to any number of damaged sites, including mine sites, smelter sites, widespread hazardous-waste sites, and areas negatively impacted by intense agriculture or forestry. The system has been tested at the Anaconda smelter site, an Environmental Protection Agency superfund site near Butte, Montana. The primary surficial problems are related to metal toxicity and transport. In addition to producing a description of the physical conditions at the entire site, the system provides spatial decision-support capabilities for generating and evaluating revegetation strategies for the site with the use of different priority schemes.