ATTITUDES OF ENVIRONMENTAL-MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN SURFACE COAL-MINE RECLAMATION IN ALBERTA AND BRITISH-COLUMBIA, CANADA

Fundamental to significant improvements in the overall process of recl aiming high-elevation surface mine disturbances is an understanding of the role of the opinions and attitudes of the participants to the des ign of reclamation research and management programmes. An attitude/opi nion survey employing the Total Design Method (TDM) was completed by 8 6 per cent of 116 potential respondents, including government regulato rs, seed and nursery stock suppliers, reclamation consultants and envi ronmental and mining engineering personnel in private industry. Differ ences in attitudes were observed between occupational and experience s ubgroups of the population, A preoccupation with short-term economics was found, as well as a general lack of agreement on many technical is sues for which there is consensus in the international literature, Cog nitive oversimplification appears to be a problem within some of the o ccupational groups. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .