PARIS, FRANCE "• Intermat officials recently announced that Carlson Software's Natural Regrade land reclamation software won a Silver Award in the Services Category of their Innovation Awards. The official awards ceremony will be held during the 2009 Intermat, one of the world's largest trade shows for the construction industry. This year's event will be held April 20 to 25 at the Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre in Paris, France. The event is held every three years.

The Intermat Innovation Awards are designed to advance the construction and building materials industries. The competition rewards innovation in 3 categories: Machinery, Equipment & Components, and Services; Carlson Natural Regrade was recognized as a laureate in the Services category. The winning products must be innovative and represent a significant advance in technical design and the technology used, or offer gains in terms of cost savings, operation, use or sustainable development. A panel of European professionals from the research and manufacturing sectors did the judging.

Carlson Natural Regrade gives all faced with disturbed lands an affordable and natural way to achieve sustainability when doing reclamation. The software features the GeoFluv approach to stable landform design, using fluvial geomorphic principles – essentially designing the land to be as it would have naturally formed on that site over thousands of years. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) named Carlson Software's Natural Regrade a "Technical Innovation and Professional Services (TIPS) Core Software" for mine reclamation design and review use in 2007.

With Carlson Natural Regrade, the natural beauty of the reclaimed land is returned while stability against erosion is established and the water quality remains comparable or better than surrounding undisturbed lands. This method is applicable to mining disturbances and land development projects including subdivisions, malls, business parks, golf courses, highway and fill slopes, municipal parks and more.

"You can do it right the first time with Natural Regrade," says Nicholas Bugosh, developer of the software and Natural Regrade sales director for Carlson Software. "Using Natural Regrade provides true sustainability – land that thrives despite the strong and often uncontrollable forces of nature."

Since its release in 2005, Carlson Natural Regrade has spread across the U.S. It is now also gaining popularity around the globe. To learn more about Carlson Natural Regrade and how it can help save money while achieving greater sustainability, visit www.carlsonsw.com.