The United States Department of Energy has assigned its Office of Environment the task of developing methods that will prevent or reduce damages caused by surface mining. Before that task can be accomplished, more must be learned about the functioning of organisms and their surroundings-the ecosystems threatened by disruptions from surface mining. While new federal and state laws require the full reclamation of mine sites, there is no assurance now that reclaimed areas can be self-sustaining, especially in the arid and semiarid West. To these ends, the Ecological Research Division within the Office of Health and Environmental Research of the Department's Office of Environment has begun a number of related programs aimed at understanding more clearly soils, plants, animals, and other components of the ecosystem so that ways may be found to improve environmental quality or to prevent damage from mining. Another aim is to produce efficient and cost-effective techniques for returning to productive use land that has been scarred by mining. Two national laboratories and six universities carry out these research programs. The work extends from broadly based studies, such as the effects of mining on the hydrologic balance, to very specific studies, such as evaluation of the reproductive cycle of a native grass.