Re: Camp Ripley buffer zone

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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The following is a text of a colorful Nature Conservancy fact sheet
about the Camp Ripley partnership:

Central Minnesota Prairie to Pines Partnership
preserving our heritage

Partnership to Conserve Central Minnesota's outstanding natural
resources through compatible land use; and preserve perimeter lands
bordering Camp Ripley to maintain its future viability.

Camp Ripley and its perimeter landscape contains the wildest land in
Central Minnesota and is home to habitat shared by people and wildlife.

The Nature Conservancy and Camp Ripley have formed a partnership to
develop a strategic land-use initiative in cooperation with local governments.

Camp Ripley

Camp Ripley is a state-owned military reservation in Central Minnesota,
managed by the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs. It serves as
the primary field training site for the Minnesota Army National Guard.
Camp Ripley supports the state mission for military reserve component
training as a 7,800 person, year-round training facility for the
National Guard, primarily consisting of units from Minnesota, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.

Mission

Support military and civilian training by providing customers with the
highest quality training atmosphere and resources available. Work in
partnership with local communities to foster cooperation and facilitate
economic growth.

Local Economic Impact

Camp Ripley is one of the largest employers in Central Minnesota and
employs 500 full-time and 1000 part-time personnel who are residents of
the neighboring counties. The economic benefit attributable to Camp
Ripley exceeds $100 million/year. 

The economic health of a community can be affected if military
operations and missions must relocate because of urban encroachment.

The challenge

Military training sites across the country are struggling with the
impact of land use changes around the perimeter of their installations
due to population growth and development. 

Nationally, residential and commercial development ("encroachment ")
around military installations is beginning to restrict or eliminate
training activities. 80% of our nation's military installations in
communities are experiencing urban growth at a rate higher than the
national average.

Camp Ripley has an award winning environmental management program, which
provides stewardship of abundant and unique plants and animals,
including 
* 565 plant specimens 
* 126 resident bird species 
* 41 species of fish 
* 107 types of aquatic invertebrates 
* 65 species of butterflies 
* 51 mammal species 
* 23 reptiles and amphibians 
* 8 mussel species.

For more information contact;

Gabrielle Horner 
The Nature Conservancy Camp Ripley
(612)331-0752 

or
Marty Skoglund
Army National Guard
(320)632-7201

The Nature Conservancy's Mission

The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve plants, animals and
natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by
protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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