The process by which seriously disturbed land surfaces are stabilized against the hazards of water and wind erosion. All seriously disturbed land areas are in need of reclamation and should be stabilized and reclaimed as quickly as possible after disturbance. Disturbance comes from major construction projects such as interstate highway systems, shopping centers, and housing developments, and from surface mining operations for coal, stone, gravel, gold, phosphate, iron, uranium, and clay. Surface mining for coal is responsible for almost one-half of the total land area disturbed in the United States, another one-fourth is from sand and gravel, and the remainder is from mining of other materials and construction.