Installations (U.S. and overseas) manage natural resources with best available science while addressing vulnerabilities, extreme weather events, climate change, and adaptation planning. Natural resources planning is integrated with other installation planning processes, including but not limited to: the built environment, infrastructure, training area and range management, wildland fire, emergency services, pest management, and cultural resources.
Requirements are set forth in legislation, implementing regulations, and Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of the Army (DA) regulations and directives, and Overseas Environmental Baseline Guidance Document (OEBGD) and define the Armyโs compliance responsibilities for planning and management of natural resources (U.S. and overseas). The Army uses plans and programs to address potential for climate change and vulnerabilities for natural resources management. [Ref. DoDI 4715.03, DoDM 4715.03, AR 200-1, Chapter 4].
Natural Resources Management Planning directly supports efforts across DoD to support an enterprise-wide approach for plans and operations, training and testing, built and natural infrastructure, and acquisition and supply. The goal of integrating climate change consideration applies across all planning processes.
This integrated management approach is necessary to address mission needs, particularly those related to extreme weather events, as well as, but not limited to, the following climate-related situations:
- Arctic permafrost melt and land subsidence, glacier and ice cover loss; and increased shoreline erosion due to climate-related impacts
- Drought, flooding, and extreme storms
- Extreme heat and drought and associated increased wildfire prevalence impacting areas including, but not limited to, western training lands
- Associated increases of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
- Water and food scarcity, as well as other climate-induced contributions to economic and social instability and conflict
- Rising sea levels that threaten coastal infrastructure
- Potential shifting of threatened and endangered species (TES) habitats and density
- Frequency and intensity of severe storm/weather events.
The Army uses a framework for planning for climate change within such an integrated management context to assist in identifying and adapting to effects of climate change. The efforts of Natural Resources personnel will proactively identify the likely effects of climate change, allowing the Army to adapt and maintain cost effective programs while meeting legal requirements to manage natural resources. Collaboration between natural resources agencies and the public is encouraged.
Photo: Despite the importance of pollinators, little is known about their distribution in Minnesota. To begin filling gaps in knowledge, the DNR coordinated native bee surveys at sites in Camp Ripley. The NRC program’s survey efforts were designed to match the DNR Minnesota Biological Survey methods in other parts of the state.