EMNRD Presents 2024 Excellence in Reclamation Award
Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor
Melanie Kenderdine, Cabinet Secretary-Designate
Ben Shelton Acting Deputy Cabinet Secretary
Albert Chang, Mining and Minerals Division Director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Sidney Hill
Public Information Officer, EMNRD
sidney.hill@emnrd.nm.gov
September 12, 2024
EMNRD Presents 2024 Excellence in Reclamation Award
Former coal mining site near Raton is restored to thriving natural ecosystem
SANTA FE, NM – The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natura Resources Department is proud to recognize the winner of its 2024 Excellence in Reclamation Award.
Instituted in 1996, the Excellence in Reclamation Award recognizes excellence and innovation in coal, hard rock and aggregate mine reclamation and abandoned mine land reclamation projects. The award also aims to raise public awareness of mining issues through outreach projects conducted around the state. EMNRD presents the awards at the annual New Mexico Mining Association Convention, which this year took place August 29 at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque.
Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Oxbow Engineering and Sweatt Construction of Artesia, N.M., earned the 2024 Excellence in Reclamation Award for their combined efforts on the Dutchman Canyon Restoration Project, which reclaimed an abandoned mine site approximately 4.5 miles west of Raton, N.M.
“I commend Oxbow Engineering and Sweatt Construction for their outstanding work in restoring this precious landscape,” said EMNRD Secretary-Designate Melanie Kenderdine, who presented the award to the project team. “A vibrant, sustainable mining industry cannot exist without a commitment to restoring these areas to productive use post mining. That is why I was honored to present the New Mexico 2024 Excellence in Mine Reclamation Award.”
The Dutchman Canyon site produced coal from the 1860s into the 1950s and was initially reclaimed in 2012. That work involved burying large piles of coal waste that set next to a stream channel, threatening to pollute water that flows in the Canadian River.
However, a significant rainstorm began to undo that work a mere year later.
The storm damaged newly planted seedlings before they could take root and prevent soil erosion. As time went by, the soil was eroded to the point that the coal waste was again visible and threatening the stream channel. In 2019, Oxbow Engineering was hired to step in and design a long-term solution.
Sweat Construction was hired to implement the design, which called for both slowing the stream’s flow and redirecting it away from its eroding banks. That allowed vegetation to grow in the area without suffering damage from storms that would cause the stream’s water level to rise.
Construction crews planted numerous types of vegetation in the area, including willows and cottonwood cuttings as well wetland and riparian plant seedlings from the Santa Ana Pueblo’s Native Plant and Tree Nursery. Today, Dutchman Canyon is the picture of a thriving natural ecosystem, which no visible traces of its coal-producing past.
Full details on the award-winning project are available on the Mining and Minerals Division’s website.
MMD warns citizens to please be aware that abandoned mine features contain nothing of value, are extremely unstable, and pose serious danger, even death, to those who disturb them or enter hazardous openings. The best practice is to Stay Out and Stay Alive. Information on award winners is posted on MMD’s website .
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The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department provides resource protection and energy resource development services to the public and other state agencies.
https://www.emnrd.nm.gov
Sidney Hill
Public Information Officer
New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)
Email: sidney.hill@emnrd.nm.gov
Phone: 505-629-2900