Reclamation

(1) The process of converting disturbed lands or mined land to its former (or other) productive uses or form, e.g., filling in of open pits, grading of the mined area, reducing high walls, replacing topsoil, planting, and revegetating. (2) Recovery to a state of closure of nutrient pathway loops that are as closed (or open) as before disturbance through all of the range of geologic and climatic conditions to which the site is potentially subject. (3) The process of making a site habitable to organisms that were originally present or others like the original inhabitants. (4) Returning disturbed lands to a form and productivity that will be ecologically balanced and in conformity with the predetermined land-management plan