A map of environmental values as an aid to planning reclamation of surface-mined areas: The Gap quadrangle, Wyoming

A map showing four levels of values designed to assess the importance of environmental factors to local land use and ecological systems was made for The Gap 7 1/2-minute quadrangle, Wyoming, at 1:100,000 scale, using a computer program based on GMAPS. These map values are the sum of values assigned to each of several factors that are judged to he important components of the present environment. The values represent ranking positions of each factor based on the authors' evaluation of its relative environmental importance. The factors evaluated are ground water, land use, grazing capacity, stream length, elevation change resulting from mining, landscape types, visibility of terrain from main roads, and scenic bedrock formations. The map can be used by engineers to plan reclamation procedures before mining begins, because map areas having high environmental values will cost more to reclaim than areas having low values.