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Mine lands occur across the United States and present a range of environmental hazards and safety risks to human communities and wildlife habitats. However, limited information exists on the whereabouts of mining activities and their potential environmental effects on landscapes. 

Remote sensing is the process of acquiring information about the landscape from ground platforms, aircraft, or satellites to assess surface characteristics such as topography, vegetation, and soil properties and can therefore provide important cost-effective methods for identifying mining sites and assessing their environmental effects. 

Based on a literature review of 85 papers about remote-sensing applications that assess land health conditions and monitoring of mine lands, this report highlights important approaches, capabilities, considerations, and case studies using a breadth of techniques. 

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Specifically, the report provides: 

1. Background of mining and laws guiding recovery efforts, 
2. An overview of remote sensing and its use in assessing mine land recovery, 
3. Considerations for setting appropriate recovery targets and how these may relate to different types of remote sensing data,
4. A list of example studies using remote sensing for monitoring mine land recovery, 
5. A discussion about both the benefits and potential shortcomings/challenges associated with using remote sensing data to assess mine land recovery, and 
6. A non-exhaustive list of helpful resources for potential users. 

The report will benefit practitioners and stakeholders interested in how remote sensing could be applied to evaluating recovery targets. 

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