Annual reviews
It is DoD policy to review INRMPs annually35. This is an internal exercise that promotes use of the INRMP as a guiding document and facilitates a regular, albeit relatively informal, look at INRMP objectives, projects, and progress toward stated objectives. It also provides an important opportunity for an installation to connect and communicate with state and federal agencies that are INRMP signatories.
35 July 2015 Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Environment, Safety and Occupational Health: Mutual Department of Defense & U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Annual reviews can be effective as part of the adaptive management cycle. However, they are commonly underutilized and/or underemphasized at the installation level. Inattention to cohesive annual reviews may reflect a lack of cohesion between the plan and program activities. INRMPS may be perceived as static documents lacking up-to-date, detailed information required for it to be considered a useful and authoritative document. Unfortunately, the “dust it off and update every five years” approach meets neither the intent of the driving legislation and policies nor installation needs.
Fortunately, many installations do enact procedures and expend effort to regularly revisit their INRMPs. The annual reviews consist of an internal process by installation staff, followed by outreach and communication with INRMP partners. Gibb (2005) found that few installations included in her study conducted activities related to maintaining and updating the INRMP. One of the best management practices identified by Gibb was the need for installations to establish a system for regular review and update of INRMPs vs. relying on individual managers’ notekeeping abilities to retain information until the next update or revision. In recent years, DoD and the military services have improved their emphasis on and support for regular and structured INRMP reviews and the maintenance of fully compliant INRMPS.
The author recently participated in an annual INRMP partners’ meeting held by the U.S. Army Garrison – Pohakuloa Training Area. The meeting was attended by staff from the Garrison, FWS, Hawaii state agencies and cooperators providing management support. The benefits and outcomes from this annual partner meeting are manifold. The meeting provided a forum to:
- Establish and nurture relationships with the partners (individually) on a professional level, or in the case of longer-term relationships, a personal level;
- Introduce/meet new staff members on cooperator, Army, and partner staffs;
- Discuss technical or other challenges, lessons learned, and problem solving/solutions;
- Discuss monitoring results and management implications;
- Review specific activities/projects, discuss results and address partner questions;
- Identify resources and explore the knowledge base among partners and other experts; and
- Identify opportunities for future collaboration and plan field outings/collaborations.
Service Guidelines for Streamlined Review of Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan Updates.
Next Page: INRMP updates and revisions
Author
David S. Jones, RA IV, Ecologist/Project Manager
Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands
Warner College of Natural Resources
Colorado State University