[CPEO-MEF] ENCROACHMENT: Sentinel Landscapes: Blurring the line between conservation and militarization in Hawaii

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

SENTINEL LANDSCAPES
Blurring the line between conservation and militarization in Hawaii. 

By Jon Letman
Inkstick
November 5, 2021

A sprawling residential development pushes up against an expanse of dense, green forest.

We hear a voice speaking over the lush images: “Our nation is only getting more crowded. There’s more competition and more pressure on resources. These bases and ranges that used to be out in the middle of nowhere, really aren’t any more. Civilization is expanding and getting closer and closer to these installations. If we don’t care for the land, if we don’t treat it right, then we will lose the training mission.”

That’s the voice of Lt. Col. Buck MacLaughlin of Avon Park Air Force Range in south central Florida speaking in a promotional video for the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, a collaboration between the US Departments of Defense (DOD), Interior (DOI), and Agriculture (USDA) with state and local governments, NGOs, and private landowners. The partnership was established in 2013 in order to “strengthen military readiness, preserve natural resources, protect critical habitat, and enhance America’s working lands.”

Central to the partnership is the designation of vast natural areas as easements to ensure forests, grasslands, and other undeveloped wilderness is not eaten up by commercial, residential, or other development. At the same time, sentinel landscapes create a buffer around military installations where testing and training occurs. Supporters of the partnership see it as a way to enhance existing conservation and land management efforts while bolstering the military mission. Critics, however, worry about employing the DOD — an agency predicated on war fighting — to serve as an environmental steward given its record of pollution and destruction.

…

For the entire article, see
https://inkstickmedia.com/sentinel-landscapes/

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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