DOINews: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and Its Collaborators Win Two Partners in Conservation Awards

Volunteers plant trees for the Flight 93 Memorial.

The U.S. Department of the Interior on Jan. 16 honored two OSM projects with the department's prestigious Partners in Conservation Awards.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell recognized OSM's work with public and private collaborators for ongoing reforestation at the Flight 93 National Memorial, as well as the development of a widely used software application that estimates the cost of treating mine-related water pollution.

Volunteers plant trees for the Flight 93 Memorial.

The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative Flight 93 Reforestation Project began in 2011 when the National Park Service requested OSM's help in reforesting previously mined and reclaimed land at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Penn. On Sept.11, 2001, the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 bravely gave their lives, thereby thwarting a planned attack on the nation's capital.

Volunteers plant trees for Flight 93 Memorial.

The department also honored the AMDTreat Software Partnership, which produced an influential software application to help treat water pollution. In collaboration with the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Departments of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Geological Survey, OSM developed the water-treatment software application known as AMDTreat, which helps estimate costs to treat acid mine discharge, a detrimental by-product of coal mining.

AMDTreat: Venturis splatter cleans up acid mine drainage.