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NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING WORLD |
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Introduction: L. Peter Boice, Deputy Director, Natural Resources in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment
(0800 – 1000)
New Directions: Strategic Planning to Support Natural Resources Management and Mission Needs
Chairperson: Alison Dalsimer, Conservation and Natural Resources, Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton
Presentations:
New Directions in DoD Natural Resources Policies and Metrics
L. Peter Boice, Deputy Director, Natural Resources, Office of the Deputy Undser Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment) Environmental Management
This presentation will describe the current status of the new DoD Natural Resources Conservation Instruction, DoDI 4715.3. It will explain significant changes from the current version, including new conservation metrics and new attention to issues such as climate change and ecosystem services. It will also describe the new companion Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) Manual. It will identify any late breaking national policies that have the potential to impact DoD.
Safeguarding our Natural Resources: Managing for Climate Change Impacts
Bruce Stein, Associate Dir., Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming, National Wildlife Federation
Climate change is already altering many of the nation's natural ecosystems, and climate impacts on wildlife and their habitats will increase significantly over the next several decades. Safeguarding America's natural resources in the face of climate change will require an understanding of the likely scope and magnitude of these effects, and creative approaches to prepare for and cope with these impacts. Adaptation to climate change will require fundamental changes in how, when, and where managers employ conservation tools and actions. This talk will summarize key concepts related to climate change adaptation, and describe approaches currently being developed for assessing the vulnerability of species and habitats to climate change.
Making Endangered Species Compliance Work for Both the Species and the Military
Scott Belfit, Wildlife Biologist, Army, Environmental Program
Fred Annand, Associate State Director, North Carolina Chapter, The Nature Conservancy
As development in the vicinity of military training lands increases, impacts to the training mission and local natural resources; including endangered species, also increases. To address this concern, the Army and TNC initiated a unique partnership at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1995. Similarly, the US Marine Corp, Camp Lejeune pulled together a partnership to address their endangered species issues regionally. This presentation starts with lessons learned from these NC partnerships. Next we summarize the Army's experience in applying these lessons learned to endangered species compliance requirements nation-wide by reviewing various tools for working with private land owners to conserve listed species.
New Directions for Bird/Animal Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) Program
Matthew W. Klope, Navy Bash Program Manager
The management of problem wildlife within the airfield environment is a difficult job and today's biologists and airfield managers require as much information as possible to make smart program decisions. Since the 1980's, BASH program managers have developed standard protocols to manage wildlife populations and airfield habitats to reduce the risk of bird strike events with aircraft and these have proven successful. Recent advancements in technology have developed new tools and provided new directions for the BASH Program Manager to increase the safety margin for today's pilots. This presentation will discuss several of these emerging technologies and research including avian radar, thermal imaging, avian acoustics, grass height management and several others.
Ecosystem Services Concept and the Department of Defense: Opportunities and Challenges
John Hall, Sustainable Infrastructure Program Manager, SERDP/ESTCP
The ecosystem services concept seems elegantly simple: society relies on the benefits, or services, provided by natural and managed ecosystems. Implementation of the concept, however, is anything but simple. Although scientific challenges still remain—for example, we need to significantly improve our understanding of how to relate ecosystem properties and their response to anthropogenic activities to the supply of distinct ecosystem services—effective implementation is largely dependent on sociopolitical values and understanding that define how decisions are made. This presentation will provide an overview of how the ecosystem services concept may apply to the Department of Defense and associated challenges and opportunities.
(1030 – 1200)
Determining Natural Resources Management Priorities in a Changing World
Chairperson: Alison Dalsimer, Conservation and Natural Resources, Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton
Presentations:
Prioritizing Activities for Threatened, Endangered and At-Risk Species
Bryan Arroyo, Assistant Director, Endangered Species Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species Program has developed a draft strategic plan to provide a framework for achieving conservation of imperiled species (i.e. listed species, candidate and species-at-risk). This presentation will summarize the plan and explain how it will assist the Service and its partners in more clearly articulating and measuring accomplishments in conserving imperiled species. The authorities, resources and cooperation of all partners are required to achieve the conservation objectives for America’s imperiled species. DoD’s Natural Resource Managers will learn how they can contribute to achieving the plan’s goals and objectives while benefiting the military’s stewardship management mission.
How DoD Can Work With State Wildlife Action Plans
Larry D. Voyles, Director, Arizona Game and Fish Department
This presentation will describe the fundamentals behind the State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAP) and how they inform state wildlife agencies in their conservation efforts. In addition, it will describe opportunities for DoD installations to become involved in the planning process that develops the SWAP for the state and how, using this plan, the DoD can leverage their conservation actions on neighboring lands to maximize conservation in the area, thus limiting direct impacts to DoD objectives. Finally,they'll be examples of how these actions have succeeded in Arizona and how future successes can be achieved.
Prioritizing Management Activities for Migratory Birds
John A. Wiens, Chief Conservation Science Officer, PRBO Conservation Science
Migratory birds move among locations. Consequently, management at any single location may address only part of their life history. For management practices to be effective, one must know how those practices impact the migratory cycle of such species and where during this cycle threats are the greatest. Ideally, management should be integrated across a network of sites along migratory pathways. For management actions to have lasting value it will also be important to anticipate how climate change and land-use change may alter migratory movements. Dealing with migratory species requires that the space and time scales normally associated with resource management be expanded to cover multiple locations well into the future.
(1330 – 1500)
Partnering: Lessons Learned from Working with Our Neighbors
Chairperson: Steve Helfert, DoD Liaison, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Presentations:
Central Shortgrass Prairie Partnership
Gary L. Belew, Land Conservation Ecologist, Army Environmental Command
The DoD Legacy program proactively supports the Central Short-grass Prairie Eco-regional Partnership (CSPP) as the core element of an ecosystem based management strategy that is successfully focusing regional conservation efforts to collaboratively manage the Central Short-grass Prairie Eco-region that includes parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. The CSPP focuses on sustaining military training resources by planning beyond the fence-line that supports regional conservation priorities based on opportunity and assessed threats. This effort provides the collaborative link necessary for the military to meet strategic mission requirements, while concurrently facilitating regional short-grass prairie conservation.
Unique Approach to Partnering with Other Land Managers Across Land Ownerships Lines and Political Boundaries to Develop Intensive Endangered Species Management Implementation Plans
Michelle Mansker, US Army Garrison Hawaii, Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division
The Hawaii Army Natural Resource Program is responsible for managing over 100 endangered species, a third of Hawaii's total. To accomplish this, the Army works with a plethora of partners, including the University of Hawaii, Honolulu City and County Board of Water Supply, Forest Service, State of Hawaii, US Geological Survey Biological Resources Division, other DOD, The Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and several private landowners to develop and implement intensive endangered species management plans that disregard landownership, focusing mainly on biology.
Cooperative Conservation in South Puget Sound
Hannah Anderson, Rare Species Project Manager, The Nature Conservancy, WA Chapter
The south Puget Sound program of The Nature Conservancy, Washington has been engaged in cooperative conservation efforts for over 15 years. We target conservation of prairie and oak woodlands and recovery of the species that occur on this rare and declining habitat at the ecoregional scale. We employ a three-tiered framework of Information Transfer, Linking of Entities, and Generating Incentives to promote recovery and conservation of our target species and habitats. This approach has yielded an engaged collaborative of professionals working toward shared goals. We will share the details of our approach, the on-the-ground work, as well as the results of a national survey we conducted regarding Cooperative Conservation Techniques.
Transformation and Realignment in the Pacific: Biosecurity Risks and Opportunities
Phil Andreozzi, Senior Policy Analyst and Regional Coordinator, National Invasive Species Council
Lisa Fielder, Environmental Director, Joint Guam Program Office Forward, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy
(Installations & Environment)
The Pacific realignment includes the relocation of military personnel to Guam, a $10 billion construction program and significant private sector development. Guam is an ecologically impaired island that has been impacted by invasive species. Island ecologies are particularly vulnerable to invasive species. Of concern is the potential introduction of established species on Guam to other Pacific Islands, as well the introduction of additional invasive species to Guam associated with increased cargo and personnel movement. The Joint. Guam Program Office and the National Invasive Species Council are working closely to conduct a pathway risk analysis and to develop a biosecurity plan that will minimize invasive species risks
(1530 – 1700)
New and Emerging Tools for Natural Resources
Chairperson: Jane Mallory, DoD Legacy Program, Natural Resources Management Specialist, Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program
Presentations:
Sikes Act: Adapting to Climate Change and Emerging Energy Priorities
David Stout, Chief, Division of Habitat and Resource Conservation, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arlington, Virginia
The Sikes Act provides an important tool for natural resource conservation on military installations. We have made great progress in conservation through our collaborative efforts developing and implementing INRMPs. However, new concerns and priorities have emerged. Climate change, coupled with the growing threat of invasive species, will present great challenges to managing sensitive species and important habitats undergoing environmental change. There are new initiatives to transform our energy economy from fossil fuel-based to renewables. The Sikes Act is an existing tool that will play an important role in managing these new and emerging threats. We must build on our partnerships and existing efforts to adapt resource management as new information and needs arise. The Service’s Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change provides an important source for planning as we begin to update INRMPs.
Bird Conservation Tools: Strategic Action Plan, Metrics, Bird Monitoring Plan, and New Database
Chris Eberly, Program Manager, Department of Defense Partners in Flight
Tools being developed by the DoD Partners in Flight program will assist natural resource managers and military planners with information on how to minimize impacts and conflicts between migratory birds and the military mission. A revised Strategic Plan outlines the goals and priorities for DoD bird conservation in the near future, including a method of measuring successes. A Coordinated Bird Monitoring Plan outlines standardized approaches for avian monitoring, and a subsequent implementation plan will provide details of developing and monitoring program, from design to data entry. A new database will capture bird-related projects and publications from installations and provide a compilation of species of concern.
The Latest Biodiversity, Conservation, and Invasive Species Management and Outreach Tools from the DoD Legacy Program
Jane Mallory, Natural Resources Management Specialist, Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program
The environmental health of Department of Defense’s (DoD) nearly 30 million acres is essential for realistic and sustainable military testing and training. This presentation introduces the newest tools developed by the Legacy Program to help foster understanding and the protection of biodiversity, rare and endangered species and habitat and manage invasive species throughout DoD. Just some of the new tools discussed include the Biodiversity Outreach Toolkit, the 2008 DoD Biodiversity Handbook and Commander’s Guide, the TERS repository, plant conservation training, the Invasive Species Guidebook for the Chesapeake Bay, the Plant Management Information System, regional invasive species workshops, and the invasive species outreach toolkit.
A Process for Truly Integrating all Installation Training Land Management Activities
John R. Philips, Army Conservation Program
Communication is the key to ensuring all training land management activities are synchronized and complimentary, however the strategic vision for management activities is often overlooked and misunderstood. AR 350-19 and AR 200-01 require effective communication and coordination. The Land Management Process (LMP) identifies the step by step methodology (based on case studies of successful installation processes)for achieving this critical meeting of the minds thus ensuring all land management projects performed by Range, ITAM, and Natural Resources Staffs support current and future mission as well as sustain our training environments.
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