Mining tears open the earth, but in Wyoming the law requires that what is disturbed must eventually be healed. Land reclamation, the process of restoring mined ground to a productive state, is a long and exacting effort that unfolds over years after the last coal or ore is removed.

The work is painstaking. As mining moves across a coal field, crews follow behind, replacing the overburden, spreading the topsoil that was carefully set aside before digging began, and reseeding the ground with native grasses. The goal is to return the land to a condition that can once again support wildlife and grazing, as it did before the mine arrived.

Wyoming's reclamation standards are among the reasons the state's mining is often cited as relatively responsible. Companies post bonds to guarantee the work will be done, and regulators monitor the restored land to ensure it takes hold. In the best cases, ground that was once an open pit becomes rolling rangeland where antelope graze and grasses wave in the wind.

The task grows more urgent as mines close. Ensuring that reclamation is completed, rather than abandoned when a company fails, has become a pressing concern amid coal's decline. Done well, reclamation offers a measure of redemption, a promise that the land which gave up its wealth need not be left as a scar upon the plains.