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Natural Resources in DoD Current Issues and Program Priorities

Natural Resources in DoD Current Issues and Program Priorities. L. Peter Boice Deputy Director, Natural Resources. Current Issues and Goals. Hot Issue: Candidate Species Policy and Guidance Evaluating DoD’s Natural Resource Programs Tools and Training Partnerships Looking Ahead.

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Natural Resources in DoD Current Issues and Program Priorities

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  1. Natural Resources in DoD Current Issues and Program Priorities L. Peter Boice Deputy Director, Natural Resources

  2. Current Issues and Goals • Hot Issue: Candidate Species • Policy and Guidance • Evaluating DoD’s Natural Resource Programs • Tools and Training • Partnerships • Looking Ahead

  3. 1. Candidate Species

  4. Background • Center for Biological Diversity and Wild Earth Guardians filed suit with USFWS on 757 species • Judge approved settlement September 10, 2011 • USFWS agreed to: • A 6-year schedule for final listing decisions on 251 species on the candidate list • Developing initial findings on 506 other species • Formal data call to DoD Components • Key species • Level of concern (Red, Yellow, Green, White) • Information available

  5. Level of Concern SUMMARY RESULTS

  6. Key Species Identified • Red knot (3 Military Services; 31 installations) • Greater sage grouse • Washington ground squirrel • Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly • Streaked horned lark • Roy prairie pocket gopher • Louisiana pine snake • Lesser prairie chicken

  7. Next Steps • Collect updates through FY 2013 EMR • Implement processes that ensure INRMPs adequately address candidate species on an ongoing basis • Ensure INRMPs are up-to-date

  8. 2. POLICY AND GUIDANCE

  9. Current and Pending Documents • DoDI 4715.03 • INRMP Implementation Manual • Tripartite MOU • Migratory Bird MOU • DoD Partners in Flight Plan • DoD Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Plan

  10. Natural Resources ConservationInstruction, DoDI 4715.03 • Purposes • Improve the integration of mission and stewardship • Integrate a conservation ethic throughout DoD • Facilitate military readiness and cost-effective policies through sustained use of natural resources • Identify opportunities for improved cooperation, information sharing, technology demonstration and transfer, and public communications • www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/471503p.pdf

  11. INRMP Implementation Manual • General INRMP provisions • Coordination, review and public comment • Implementation and special management • Ecosystem-based management • INRMP contents • In Formal Coordination

  12. Sikes Tripartite MOU • Clarifies definitions for: • Compliant INRMP • INRMP Review • INRMP Update • INRMP Revision • Streamlined review process • Anticipate by end of June • Companion USFWS Sikes Act Guidance Update • To be published NLT September 2013 • Definitions consistent w/ MOU • Help ensure USFWS input to annual Focus Area metrics

  13. Migratory Bird MOU • Adds responsibilities for implementing Executive Order 13186 • Clarifies information sharing among Migratory Bird Council members • Provides guidance for implementing changes in cantonment areas and best practices for non-readiness activities (e.g., reducing amount of reflective glass, using native plants for landscaping) • Anticipate update before end of fiscal year

  14. 3. Evaluating DoD’s Natural Resource Programs

  15. Natural Resource Metrics • Goals: • Evaluate effectiveness of natural resources support to the military mission • Assess overall health and trends of each installation's natural resources program • Identify and correct potential funding and other resource shortfalls

  16. Natural Resources Focus Areas

  17. Critical Habitat Designation Avoidance • INRMPs and Critical Habitat Exclusions • 51 installations and satellites have used INRMP exclusion: 4(a)(3)(B); 22 more than once • Majority of recent occurrences – Hawaii plants • 99 total difference species • 34 bases used readiness exclusion: 4(b)(2) • 1 since 2006 (two coral species)

  18. Conservation Expenditures Front office query – what do we get for this level of investment?

  19. Program Budget ElementsPROPOSED • Manpower • Education and Training (Natural) • Listed and At-Risk Species • Endangered Species Act • Wetlands • Clean Water Act • Natural Resources Conservation & Rehabilitation • Sikes Act • Marine Mammal Protection Act • Other Natural Resources • Migratory Bird Treaty Act • Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act

  20. 4. TOOLS AND TRAINING

  21. Purposes • Define Needs and Address Gaps • Information Exchange • Strategic Planning

  22. Natural Resources Courses • Sikes and ESA courses developed and implemented. Now online only: • www.Dodworkshops.org/Training.html • No additional Legacy-sponsored course offerings projected • Evaluating alternative training methods • e.g., webinars, distant learning

  23. Informational Workshops www.dodworkshops.org/Workshops.html

  24. Other Tools • Biodiversity • www. Dodbiodiversity.org • Invasive Species Outreach • www.dodinvasives.org

  25. 5. PARTNERSHIPS

  26. Why Partner? • Improve understanding of DoD mission and stewardship needs • Place DoD lands into larger regional context, and leverage resources across geopolitical boundaries • Enhance resource sharing and cost efficiencies • Ease INRMP approval and implementation • Increase management flexibility • Demonstrate DoD’s community engagement

  27. Authority to Partner • Economy Act (31 USC 1535 and 1536) • Sikes Act (16 USC 670c-1) • Legacy Program (10 USC 2694) • REPI (10 USC 2684a)

  28. Partnership Efforts • Internal DoD • External – Federal • US Fish and Wildlife Service • USDA Forest Service • Bureau of Land Management • External - NGO • National Military Fish and Wildlife Association • Cooperative Ecosystem Study Units • Cooperative Conservation • Non-Profit Organizations

  29. Internal DoD • DoD Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI): www.denix.osd.mil/sri/repi • DoD Partners in Flight: http://dodpif.org • DoD Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation: www.parcplace.org/resources/dod-parc.html

  30. Federal Agencies • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • Key partner – regulator • Regular meetings between DoD NR Program and Ecological Services,Migratory Bird, and Endangered Species offices • Award-winning outcomes • 2012 Presidential Migratory Bird Stewardship Award (Burrowing Owls) • 2013 Military Conservation Partner Award (Naval Base Coronado)

  31. External: National Military Fish and Wildlife Association (NMFWA) • Coalition of military installation natural resource managers and contractors • Future: more webinars and other online resources

  32. External: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs) • Currently a member of 15 CESU units • CESU – New Regions for 2013 • Pacific Northwest, Great Basin • Ft. Worth District • FY12: 62 new and 65 continuing projects • $34.0M • Sliding scale fee

  33. External: Cooperative Conservation • Regional Partnerships • Ecosystem Management Initiatives • SE Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability (SERPPAS) and Western Regional partnership (WRP) • Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas • Locally Implemented Partnerships • National Public Lands Day • Bat Conservation International • National Wild Turkey Federation • Ducks Unlimited

  34. External: Non-Profit Groups • Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) • Caught in the Crosshairs: Combating the Illegal Wildlife Trade in Iraq & Afghanistan • www.wcswildlifetrade.org/military • Pollinator Partnership • Variety of project funded, primarily through National Public Lands Day • www.pollinator.org • National Wildlife Federation • Scanning the Conservation Horizon: A Guide to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment • www.nwf.org/vulernabiltyguide • The Wildlife Society • New Military Working Group • www.wildlife.org/subunits/working-groups

  35. 6. LOOKING AHEAD

  36. Looking Ahead • Limited travel – mission essential • Alternative means of communications • Compliance-driven requirements will dominate budget decisions (e.g., Listed and at-risk species) • FWS expected to propose additional changes to ESA rules and policies • Continued off-base partnership opportunities • Climate change focus → missions and facilities • Sustainability (e.g., water)

  37. Outreach • Websites • DoDNaturalResources.net • DENIX.osd.mil/NaturalResources • DoDLegacy.org • Natural Selections Newsletters • Publications/Brochures • YouTube Animations • http://dodnaturalresources.net/Animation.html • www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipNe0rnu3E • Social Media • DoD Facebook and Blog • Twitter: @DoDNatRes

  38. Questions? Peter.Boice@osd.mil

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