Recultivation and landscaping in areas after brown-coal mining in middle-east European countries

The research on the reclamation of areas devastated by open cast mining has a long tradition in the Middle-East European Countries. Results obtained from the research in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, Russia and Estonia are summarized. Mining technologies, law regulations and the physiogeographical situation of the mining regions are different in the particular countries. This resulted in different reclamation strategies in these countries. In Poland, forest recultivation is of great importance because of the physical and chemical properties of the uppermost layers of the dumps, whereas in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania agricultural recultivation is more important. The results of studies on the forest recultivation of dumps in Estonia are of great interest, because they have been carried out for more than 50 years.