Although Fort Bragg was an early leader in developing new approaches for balancing military training and biodiversity conservation, it is not unique. Creative and successful approaches to managing biodiversity on military lands are taking place across the country, and across all the military services. Common to many of these efforts are several success factors, which the Fort Bragg example highlights.
- Focus on the military mission: The underlying goal from the DoD perspective was to ensure the sustainability of Fort Bragg for carrying out critical training and testing activities and maintaining military readiness. Placing the conservation work in the context of military readiness enabled the Army to tackle these problems with characteristic intensity and efficiency.
- Think regionally and work across boundaries: Taking the broader landscape into account was important for understanding the role that the baseโs lands play in regional conservation issues, and conversely, the impact that off-installation land uses have on the baseโs ability to meet both military mission and conservation goals.
- Rely on the best available science: A deeper understanding of the status and needs of the woodpecker, its response to different training regimes, and the processes required to maintain and restore its habitat improved the effectiveness of management actions and allowed more flexibility in crafting approaches.
- Form partnerships and establish trust: Success required that individuals and organizations with different values and cultures establish working relationships based on trust. Establishing trust takes time and comes through each party gaining a better understanding of each otherโs goals, leading to mutual respect. Partnerships also allowed broader and deeper expertise to be brought to bear on the problem.
Go to next page: State of the Nation: The Condition of Biodiversity Across the United States
Author
Bruce Stein, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Associate Vice President
National Wildlife Federation
Balancing Mission and Biodiversity at Fort Bragg Sections
Balancing Mission and Biodiversity at Fort Bragg
Longleaf Pine: A Declining Ecosystem