Changes in law environmental friendly

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The following article can be viewed online at:
http://www.af.mil/stories/story.asp?storyID=123006446
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AIR FORCE PRINT NEWS
Changes in law environmental friendly
by Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez
January 26, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Portions of the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal 2004 make it easier for the Air Force to execute its mission
while protecting the environment at the same time.

The act includes language allowing the National Fish and Wildlife
Service to legally consider measures that may already be in place at an
Air Force installation when making a decision about how best to protect
endangered species, Maureen Koetz said. She is the deputy assistant
secretary of environment, safety and occupational health.

"This enables us to manage species effectively through our Integrated
Natural Resources Management Plans without having to be concerned about
critical habitat zoning coming in and removing larger tracts of land
from our ability to use them," Ms. Koetz said.

The Air Force has INRMPs in place at its installations, she said. When
developing an INRMP, plan authors take into account the needs of
endangered species and the needs of the Air Force. With an INRMP in
place, endangered species are able to thrive while at the same time, the
Air Force is able to carry out its readiness mission.

"An INRMP allows us to preplan and pre-position how we are going to
utilize our resources," Ms. Koetz said.

An INRMP also takes into account such things as archeological sites,
biodiversity, bio-habitats and wetlands, Ms. Koetz said.

"We look at the whole site picture and identify the parts we will use
for military activity and areas we will maintain for conservation
status, and we will make those things work together," she said.

Before the act, recognizing the effectiveness of an INRMP was not an
official option for the Fish and Wildlife Service, though officials did
consider the plans as part of their own internal policy. Federal
environmental laws directed the service to use methods such as zoning
the portions of a military installation where endangered species are
present as critical habitat.

A critical habitat designation puts restrictions and limitations on how
Air Force land can be used, Ms. Koetz said. The result is that the Air
Force may be denied access to its resources.

"A critical habitat designation or another requirement that compels us
to set our land aside for something other than a military readiness use
essentially ? acts as a limitation," Ms Koetz said. "It's no different
than if somebody came along and declared your backyard to be [a]
playground for the entire neighborhood. Then it is zoned differently.
Then you have to reorganize how you use your backyard because society
has come along and changed how it is to be used."

That denial of resources, she said, leads to operational risks,
reduction of available space and limitations on training and readiness
activities. To compensate, the Air Force must pay for relocation of
activities, and must rent or purchase equipment that can be used in
smaller places.

More than just readiness activities can be affected by critical habitat.
Simple day-to-day maintenance activities can also be affected, said Lt.
Col. Alan R. Holck, Air Force conservation program manager.

In California, the presence of vernal pools could have had large
portions of two installations declared as critical habitat, he said.

Vernal pools are areas that fill with water on a seasonal basis, Colonel
Holck said. During the time the pools have water in them, unique flowers
and invertebrates such as the fairy shrimp spring to life.

"At Travis Air Force Base in California, FWS proposed that nearly all of
the installation -- short of the runways -- be marked as critical
habitat to protect the vernal pools," Colonel Holck said. "Included in
that was base housing. To do things like yard and grounds maintenance
you would have had to get permission from FWS."

At California's Beale AFB, only 25 percent of the installation would
have fallen under critical habitat.

"We convinced FWS and the local wildlife agencies that we could manage
and protect the pools ourselves and still carry out the mission,"
Colonel Holck said. "We didn't need the restrictions that critical
habitat would place on us to successfully manage these species."

With the changes under NDAA '04, the FWS can now consider Air Force
INRMPs an effective method for managing endangered species. This change
allows the Air Force and other Department of Defense activities to
continue acting as investors in the environment.

"Most people, including many environmental organizations, don't
understand the valuable environmental equity that has been created by
the way DOD manages its lands," Ms. Koetz said. "We are investors in our
environment -- equity developers. It is precisely because the Air Force
or the Army or the Navy put a fence around a certain area and maintain
it as a military installation that there are extraordinarily valuable
biodiversity, wetland, groundwater recharge, and coastal ecosystem
resources that continue to exist and be available."

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