Happy New Year Everyone!
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ASRS wishes all of their members and reclamation interested associates happy holidays and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2023 for all those who are celebrating at this time.
We had our December NEC meeting on December 14. The minutes to the meeting will be posted on the ASRS website in the members only section once they are approved. These are some of the highlights that have happened with the American Society of Reclamation Sciences since then.
Conferences
The 2023 conference planning committee has been very busy! Information about the conference has just been posted on the website. This will be a celebration of the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Reclamation Sciences [formerly the American Society of Mining & Reclamation (ASMR) and American Society of Surface Mining and Reclamation (ASSMR)]. This year’s conference will be held at the Boise Centre (www.boisecentre.com) in downtown Boise, Idaho, from June 4-7, 2023.
If you are “local or regional” to the area and want to join the committee, please contact Dustin Wasley at DWasley@haleyaldrich.com.
Snapshot of what the Annual Meeting will include:
- Tour of the Reclaimed DeLamar Mine will be hosted by Integra Resources Corporation.
- An “Ice Breaker” social will be held the evening of Sunday, June 4.
- Keynote Speakers will kick things off the morning of June 5.
- The Annual ASRS Awards Banquet will be held Monday, June 5 offsite.
- An Evening Social Event, featuring drinks and hors d’oeuvres, will be held the evening of Monday, June 5.
- Catered lunches Monday (Awards Lunch) and Wednesday (Student Awards Lunch).
- The Student/Early Career Professional (ECP) Social Event will be held the evening of Tuesday, June 6.
- Wyoming AML Seeding Specialist Certification Class will be held the afternoon of Wednesday, June 7.
Technical Content Information
The call for abstracts is now live at https://www.asrs.us/2023-conference/call-for-abstracts/.
This conference will focus on, but will not be limited to, the technical areas identified below and will provide a forum for the dissemination of information through presentation of research findings, field tours, workshops, and open technical discussion of public policy relating to mining, reclamation, restoration, reforestation, and land management issues.
A 250- to 300 -word abstract should be submitted for consideration within the Technical Divisions (Soil, Water, Vegetation, Wildlife, Technology, and Engineering/Construction). Example Technical Session Topics include (but are not limited to):
- Reclamation Across Idaho
- Historic Mining Districts
- North Idaho/Silver Valley Area
- Phosphate Patch
- Stream/River Restoration
- Mercury in the Environment
- Reclamation Planning starts at Baseline
- Importance of Early Outreach with the Community and Stakeholders
- Drones/UAVs
- GIS/Mapping
- Water Treatment
- Cover Systems
- Geomorphic Landform Reclamation
- Reclamation Innovations
- Geochemistry Session (ARD/AMD/Risk Assessment)
- Importance of Critical Minerals in Idaho
- Seeding and Revegetation
- Abandoned Mine Lands and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)
- Others
Sponsorship and Exhibitor Opportunities
The opportunity for sponsorships and to become an exhibitor is now open https://www.asrs.us/2023-conference/call-for-exhibitors-and-sponsors/. Please check out this amazing opportunity for your company or organization to interface with reclamation professionals and those who influence decisions about the purchase of products and services for the mining and reclamation industry.
Membership
Membership renewals have been sent out for memberships that expired between October 1 and February 28. Please look for a reminder in your inbox (or spam) or renew online at asrs.us. Rates are staying the same as last year. We now have a rolling membership term, so your membership is good for 365 days after you renew your membership.
If you are getting this letter and you are not a member, please consider all that ASRS has to offer through networking, knowledge dissemination, and conferences, and how you have or may have benefited from these interactions and join! If your membership has lapsed during the pandemic, renew at https://www.asrs.us/join-organization/.
Outreach
As part of our goal to reach out to more facets of disturbances that require reclamation and increase our membership base, we have been engaging and supporting members that are attending other conferences and are willing to staff a booth to bring awareness of ASRS and our wealth of technical expertise to a wider range of potential members.
Mehgan Blair represented ASRS at the Petroleum Association of Wyoming conference in Casper, Wyoming, in November. She said that there was a lot of interest in the booth (booth image below). If you visited the booth and have not yet become a member, please do! We all benefit from a wider range of reclamation knowledge. It does not matter if you are in mining, oil and gas, stream restoration, dam removal, contaminated site clean-up, and so on, it is all reclamation of degraded lands and waters.
ASRS booth at the November 2022 Petroleum Association of Wyoming conference in Casper, Wyoming.
Publications
We are always looking for articles for our publications.
Reclamation Sciences publishes peer reviewed articles including research articles, technical notes, short communications, review articles, and cultural communications.
Reclamation Matters is published in Spring and Fall and encourages articles which are written for a broad reclamation audience, typically of applied nature.
Articles can be submitted to both publications at any time during the year, but Reclamation Matters does have a hard deadline for the Spring and Fall editions. The Spring deadline will be in early February.
If you have a topic you are interested in getting published, please check out the details of our publications to determine which one will suit your needs at asrs.us or contact the editors.
Reclamation Matters Editor Dr. Michael Curran, reclamationmatters@asrs.us
Reclamation Sciences Editor Dr. Natalie Kruse, reclamationsciences@asrs.us
Facebook
If you have any social media news about ASRS that you would like posted, please contact Allen Wellborn at allen.wellborn@navenergy.com.
Elections
Candidates platforms for two NEC positions (2-year terms that run from June 2023 to June 2025) and one President (3-year term; June 2023 to June 2024 as incoming President, June 2024 to June 2025 as President and June 2025 to June 2026 as Past President) and Technical Division Representative (2-year June 2023 to June 2025) are being finalized. Look for election ballots early in the new year. If you are interested or want more information about running in future elections, please contact Tim Danehy at timdanehy@biomost.com.
Awards
Call for 2023 ASRS Major Award Nominations has gone live!
The awards program of the American Society of Reclamation Sciences is our premiere recognition of outstanding and exemplary efforts in the fields of reclamation research, teaching, practical applications, and outreach all while restoring ecosystems after ecological disturbances. Our awards committee is comprised of representatives of industry, academia, and government agencies (regulatory and research). We are now accepting nominations for the following awards:
William T. Plass Award,
Richard I. and Lela M. Barnhisel Researcher of the Year Award,
Reclamationist of the Year Award,
Early Career in Reclamation Award,
Distinction in Reclamation Award,
Pioneers in Reclamation.
We encourage all members to give serious consideration to nominating any of the exceptionally worthy people or projects for these awards for 2023. Format information is on the ASRS website under the Awards tab and the nomination procedure is quite simple. A reference guide has been added to help with a quick review of the criteria for all awards, while the written criteria in each award nomination file helps outline the details. Remember that the successful recipient and nominator of each award receives a complimentary registration for the annual conference June 4-7, 2023 in Boise Idaho, just another incentive to nominate a worthy co-worker/acquaintance in the field of reclamation sciences.
Nominations are due February 28, 2023. Please submit your nomination as a PDF or Word document to Paul Griswold at pgriswold@peabodyenergy.com. Now is the time to start preparing your nominations. We are hoping for a record year of nominations for 2023 and look forward to seeing you all in Boise.
New News
We hope this Newsletter gives our membership a better understanding about what goes on behind the scenes at ASRS. If you are interested in getting involved or have information that should be included in the next email, please contact us at president@asrs.us.
All the best for a happy and Healthy 2023!
Best Regards
Michele Coleman
President ASRS