Print PageThe Department of Defense (DOD) is one of the largest, if less well known, federal agency managers of natural resources, including habitat for threatened and endangered species. As new species have been added to the list, the value of Department of Defense managed habitat and the potential for conflicts between these species needs and DOD mission objectives have both increased. Fortunately, in recent years DOD has recognized the contribution to species recovery that its holdings can make. The Department has initiated an active program of species habitat conservation, both on its holdings, and in cooperation with the Deaprtment of Agriculture, on adjacent nonfederal lands.
Results/Conclusions
This paper will provide a broad overview of DOD endangered species conservation efforts over the last decade. The importance of Department-wide directives will be analyzed in the context of base and facility level accomplishments. Funding levels for endangered species habitat management over the last several budget cycles will be reviewed A series of individual base-level projects will be discussed and evaluated for their contribution to recovery objectives.
DOD has also partnered wiith the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide financial and technical assistance to nonfederal landowners adjacent to DOD facilities to asist in endangered species recovery objectives and other, broader conservation program goals. These efforts have had the additional salutory effect of reducing conflicts between DOD mission objectives and private landowner goals. The paper will conclude with an analysis of the value of the creative and cooperative approaches that DOD has sponsored to further endangered species program goals. The paper will asses which of these initiatives have the potential for broader application with other landowner categories.
