Ecosystem management continues to serve as a basis for DoD natural resource management and is central to the development and implementation of INRMPs. As described in the INRMP Implementation Manual (DoDM 4715.03), DoD Components are expected to use ecosystem management on their lands “to support present and future training and testing requirements while preserving, improving, and enhancing ecosystem integrity.” A key outcome of applying ecosystem management on military lands is “maintaining and improving the sustainability and native biodiversity of ecosystems.” To accomplish this, DoD Components are expected to conduct installation programs and activities to “identify, maintain, and restore the composition, structure, and function of natural communities that comprise ecosystems to ensure their long-term sustainability and biodiversity at landscape and other relevant ecological scales to the maximum extent that mission needs allow.” To support DoD’s implementation of ecosystem-based management, the INRMP Implementation Manual also identifies several key principles, summarized in Box 1.2.
Next Page: Box 1.2: Principles for Ecosystem Management on DoD Lands
Author
Bruce Stein, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Associate Vice President
National Wildlife Federation
A Shift Toward Ecosystem Management and Biodiversity Conservation Sections
A Shift Toward Ecosystem Management and Biodiversity Conservation
Box 1.1: Importance of Biodiversity Conservation for the Military Mission