In 1971, the Environmental Protection Agency created the DOCUMERICA Project, a program designed to document and catalogue the effects of the EPA in its efforts towards environmental conservation. After six years, the program was shut down, but the end result was a massive archive of images gathered by over 100 freelance photographers from all across America. A large part of these photographs are now housed on the US National Archives' online catalogue (as well as its Flickr page). These are my favorites.
Reclamation Effort of Strip Mined Land near Colstrip. Old Stock Piles Are Flattened and Planted. Dry Climate and Shallow Soil Allow Only Sparse Growth, 1973
Photographer: Boyd Norton
![Close-Up of Stream Bed Illustrates the Dry Climate of the Proposed Strip-Mining Area of Sarpy Basin […], 1973
Photographer: Boyd Norton](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1r78zalym1qbf02no1_500.gif)
Close-Up of Stream Bed Illustrates the Dry Climate of the Proposed Strip-Mining Area of Sarpy Basin […], 1973
Photographer: Boyd Norton
Thunderclouds Over Grassy Plateau, 1972
Photographer: Boyd Norton
Sunset at the Redding Ranch in Sarpy Basin. The Reddings, Who Have Been Here for Three Generations, Have Refused to Sell Their Land to the Westmoreland Coal Company, 1973
Photographer: Boyd Norton
