Conserving biodiversity on military lands: a handbook for natural resource managers

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The 25 million acres of Federal and state land managed by the Department of Defense (DoD) include national assets of exceptional ecological value and biological diversity. Over the past four decades, the military has strengthened its commitment to natural resources management, and recently a number of installations have gained national recognition as leaders in the stewardship of public lands. The military now faces the challenge of building on this accomplishments to fully integrate stewardship values and practices on all its installations. This handbook is intended to promote this next generation of stewardship on military installations by providing useful guidance and tools. The handbook has been written primarily for natural resources managers on military installations, although military operations/training personnel and others may find the text useful as well. Development of the handbook follows recommendations by participants in a recent DoD policy dialogue on biodiversity conservation on military lands. This dialogue affirmed the important linkage between biodiversity conservation and military readiness and outlined a model process for better integration of training and testing objectives within natural resources management strategies. The strong message was to improve communication, look for ways to avoid conflicts, and where possible develop solutions that advance both military operations/training and biodiversity conservation objectives. Why is a book like this needed? Does the military not already have sufficient guidance to deal with these issues? The short answer is that times have changed - public expectations are increasing and scientific understanding is more sophisticated. As we learn more about the natural world and our place in it, the knowledge that brought us to this point no longer suffices to carry us well into the future. In a particular, the new and developing science of conservation biology, and our knowledge of biodiversity and it losses, necessitates some retraining and redirection in how we approach natural resources management. The emergence of biodiversity as a central focus of management, and the development of an ecosystem approach at the Federal, state, and local levels means that new ideas, new tools, and new philosophies need to be examined, digested, and incorporated into the toolbags of natural resources managers. This is our intention, and we begin with a look at the most central feature and driving force behind this new effort, biodiversity.

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Reference Code: B96LES01IDUS

Full Citation: Leslie, M., G. K. Meffe, J. L. Hardesty, and D. L. Adams. 1996. Conserving biodiversity on military lands: a handbook for natural resource managers. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA. 241 pp. plus appendices.

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URL: http://www.cnhp.colostate.edu/frep/documents/References/Conserving%20Bio...