Collaborative management of vegetation on withdrawn lands

Background/Question/Methods

The Department of Defense (DoD) utilizes over 30 million acres of land at more than 5,000 sites worldwide. Approximately half that acreage (16 million acres) was previously managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and withdrawn for military purposes. Provisions for management of these lands are specified in public laws, executive orders, and other enabling documents. Whenever the military uses withdrawn public land, it incurs legal and moral responsibilities for the stewardship of the land and its resources.

Nearly 90% (66,545 acres) of land currently used by Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) is on long-term withdrawal from public domain lands originally assigned to the BLM. This land is withdrawn from other public use for the military to enhance military readiness in the interest of national defense. Residual responsibility for JBER withdrawn lands remains with BLM, which retains interest in the stewardship of the transferred parcel, even though the land is under long-term management by DoD. Under JBER management, land is used primarily for national security purposes (e.g., training and testing) but may also be managed to accommodate additional uses as long as they do not impinge on the primary military readiness mission.

Five physiographic zones are found on JBER: (1) Coastal Halophytic Zone; (2) Lowland Interior Forest Zone; (3) Subalpine Zone; (4) Alpine Zone; and (5) Artificially Cleared or Disturbed Area Zone. The most extensive types of vegetation on the installation are old growth and young birch-white spruce, closed, mixed forest that originated after fires burned the area in the mid-1700s and again during 1895 through 1935.

Results/Conclusions

Nearly half of JBER (37,054 acres) is commercially-valuable forest land. Recently, a comprehensive forestry plan was developed in coordination with the Army’s Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) program and BLM Fire Service. As part of this plan, the forester works closely with Army Range Control and ITAM personnel to design and execute joint management activities, clear fire trails, and provide expertise for projects that enhance mission operations while reducing wildlife conflict and safety concerns by promoting moose browse away from ranges.

JBER also has an active invasive species program. As of 2012, the installation has been completely inventoried; management plans and implementation efforts are focused on prioritized species eradication and control to reduce mission impact. Around 400 invasive ornamental trees were targeted for future removal and roughly one acre of orange hawkweed was removed in 2012.