History of Land Conservation On Military Lands.

In 1989, the Army published a report entitled, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Natural Resources Management on Army Installations 1941-1987”, which documented the evolution of the Army Corps of Engineers’ responsibilities for the natural environment on Army bases during those years.  The report was a comprehensive overview of the problems and successes of Army natural resources management both domestic and overseas. Oral history interviews with natural resources personnel played a leading role in gathering information for the report.  The topics covered included erosion control, grounds maintenance, agricultural leasing, forest management, wildlife management, environmental conservation and the preservation of historic sites from 1941-1987.  It also included case studies that describe efforts on both CONUS and OCONUS Army installations.  Since 1987, the history of the Army’s natural resources management programs has not been documented and the history of the Army's cultural resources management program has never been documented in such a fashion.  Since the published report, dramatic changes have occurred in the legal and political obligations of Army installations relative to local, state, and federal cultural and environmental laws.  This presentation will review natural resource management from 1941 and document the development and evolution of natural resources management programs from the mid 1980s through 2009.  The history of this later period was compiled from interviews with personnel responsible for natural resource management during the time, as well as, a comprehensive literature review of pertinent documents that have been published about the development of Army natural resource management.