Camp Blanding Compatible Use Buffer

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Florida Guard Gets First Compatible Use Buffer Under New Provisions 

Rick Breitenfeldt, National Guard Bureau
Environmental Update, U.S. Army Environmental Center
Summer 2004

To limit the effects of urban and suburban sprawl on military training,
the Army has developed a plan to "buffer" training lands from the
effects of this encroachment, and to maintain its ability to use and
access the current training ranges within the installation boundary. 

The Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program allows for the use of
federal funds to enter into partnership agreements with county, state or
municipal governments as well as nonprofit organizations for the partner
to purchase tracts of land or easements on lands that surround the
installations. 

The Florida Army National Guard became the first installation to use the
program within the Department of Defense, when Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
decided to purchase more than 8,500 acres around Camp Blanding to create
a buffer around the 73,000-acre installation. 

According to Jon Myatt, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of
Military Affairs, preserving the resources and the wild land that
surround Camp Blanding is critical to training for the Guard's mission
of the security and defense of the Homeland ? both at home and abroad. 

The area around Camp Blanding is also a thriving habitat for more than
60 rare species, including the Florida scrub jay, Eastern indigo snake,
bald eagle and the red-cockaded woodpecker. 

Many of the 108 Army National Guard training sites would benefit from
this program. 

The Minnesota Army National Guard has also been meeting with planning
and zoning officials in the counties surrounding Camp Ripley and
recently implemented an ACUB partnership there. 

With a new four-lane state highway from the Twin Cities that parallels
the Mississippi River to its east, the growth potential adjacent to Camp
Ripley is a reality, said Marty Skoglund, Camp Ripley's environmental
programs manager. 

"We're working with surrounding counties, cities and townships to
prevent encroachment from changes in land use that are incompatible with
Camp Ripley's mission," said Skoglund.

According to Alisa Dickson at the Army National Guard's environmental
programs division, an ACUB program can benefit both the military and the
surrounding communities. 

The Guard can continue to train to Army standards, and surrounding
communities can protect environmentally important ecosystems while
increasing public access to recreational areas, said Dickson. 

for the original see,
http://aec.army.mil/usaec/publicaffairs/update/sum04/sum0409.html


-- 


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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