Though most of the following are introduced in the introductory Chapter 1 and discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6 (Partnerships), it is important to understand how these key programs encourage and facilitate a larger perspective on environmental management. As management scales increase, so does the complexity of the associated challenges to the manager. These programs can help natural resource managers enhance conservation and mission readiness at these larger scales.
Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI)—the REPI program is DoD’s flagship program to facilitate a landscape-scale management perspective in and around DoD lands with the objective of combating encroachment that can impact military training, testing, and operations. By facilitating buffer partnerships among the military services, private conservation groups, and state and local governments, the REPI program protects these military missions by helping remove or avoid land-use conflicts near installations and addressing regulatory restrictions that inhibit military activities. The REPI program is administered by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). See Chapter 6 (Partnerships) for additional details on this program.
Sentinel Landscapes—Initiated in 2013 by the DoD, Department of Agriculture, and Department of the Interior, the Sentinel Landscape Partnership is a coalition of federal agencies, state and local governments, and non-governmental organizations that engages private landowners in advancing sustainable land use practices around DoD lands. The mission of the partnership is to:
- Strengthen military readiness.
- Conserve natural resources.
- Foster agricultural and forestry economies, and
- Increase climate change resilience.
The Army Compatible Use Buffer Program (ACUB)—The ACUB program empowers Army installations to work with partners to protect habitat and buffer lands used for training without acquiring new land under Army ownership. The ACUB program facilitates mutually beneficial use of land with partners to preserve high-value habitat and limit development of land near installations. Establishing buffer areas around Army installations limits the effects of encroachment and therefore safeguards the installation’s mission. (https://aec.army.mil/index.php/conserve/ACUB).
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)—The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, though not employed since 2005, will receive fresh funding in 2021. This program has had profound effects on both the military and surrounding civilian and natural communities, since it has involved wide-ranging changes to bases, the many people associated with those bases, and of course the environment in and around these DoD lands. BRAC has been employed five times since the enactment of the Defense Realignment and Closure Act in 1990—most recently in 2005. The process has closed or realigned hundreds of installations, some with significant natural resources.
Some military installations closed through the BRAC process have been transferred to other land management agencies because of their exceptional natural and cultural resources. Among those are the U.S. Army’s Presidio of San Francisco, California (transferred to the National Park Service); the U.S. Army’s Jefferson Proving Ground, Indiana; Fort Ord, California, and the North Tract of Fort Meade, Maryland (all transferred to the FWS); the U.S. Navy’s Midway Atoll (transferred to the FWS), and the U.S. Air Force’s Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire (transferred to the FWS).
Each military service has developed policies and procedures for assessing the environmental and natural resources conditions on installations being considered for closure or realignment. These assessments typically consider the occurrence of rare, threatened, or endangered species and the general level of biodiversity present (https://www.acq.osd.mil/brac/).
Next Page: Encroachment
Author
J. Douglas Ripley, Environmental Consultant U.S. Air Force (Retired)
With updates and Additional contributions by: James van Ness, Senior Level Attorney Advisor Office of the Secretary of Defense