Conservation tools workshops in Georgia.

How do you enlist the support of private landowners around military installations to promote good habitat conservation practices? This is the question a group of natural resource professionals decided to tackle in the last few months of 2005. The group included representatives of the Department of Defense, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

The DoD operates key installations in the state of Georgia. All four military services administer at least one installation in the state, and they are required to manage natural resources on their facilities while directing their military mission. In the past, military installations were often located in isolated areas with few residents and little development. Recently, however, growth in surrounding areas has expanded to the boundaries of military installations. Development adjacent to military installations has eliminated natural habitat and raised concerns about safety, air quality, and noise.

To perform required training, military installations need to remain in largely undeveloped areas, a requirement that benefits the conservation of natural habitats. Such habitats can become the last refuge in the area for plant and animal species, many of which are threatened, endangered, or at risk. If these habitats are reduced, the military installation's capability to support DoD training and operational requirements is eroded. "Preventing species at risk and their habitats from reaching a point where they are so imperiled they need listing under the Endangered Species Act is the direction the Service and its conservation partners want to travel," states Renne Lohoefener, the Service's Assistant Director for the its endangered species program.

Peter Boice, the DoD Legacy program's manager, remarks, "DoD Legacy gives a high rank to projects and actions that benefit species-at-risk around military installations." That level of priority resulted in the funding of a project focusing on at-risk species and their habitats around military installations in Georgia. One component of the Georgia Species-at Risk project promoted conservation partnerships with landowners and stakeholders near military installations in Georgia.

Assistance from landowners with undeveloped property near military installations is critical to expand or maintain high quality, native habitat for at-risk species beyond the installation's fenceline. The DoD, Service, GDNR, and TNC all realize the value and necessity of conservation partnerships to accomplish natural resource management goals.

Funding from DoD's Legacy program allowed these agencies to spread the message of conservation partnerships and available conservation tools to natural resource professionals on military installations, as well as to landowners and stakeholders in Georgia through a series of interactive workshops.

Over 100 people participated in the conservation tools workshop, which stressed the importance of DoD buffer lands in serving conservation objectives. Presented at six different Georgia locations, conservation tools information covered Safe Harbor Agreements, Candidate Conservation Agreements, conservation easements, and conservation banks, and illustrated how private landowners can obtain financial support for good environmental practices on their lands. All those in attendance received Service literature about cooperative conservation programs, including "Conservation Profiles: Landowners Help Imperiled Wildlife," "Habitat Conservation Plans," and the Endangered Species Bulletin.

Conservation efforts on private lands bordering military installations not only benefit DoD, but assist the GDNR's education and conservation efforts. Jim Ozier, GDNR, discussed the state of Georgia's natural resources, highlighting key natural areas, habitats and the state's recently completed Wildlife Action Plan. DoD installations feature prominently in this plan. Realizing that conservation-minded private landowners and stakeholders would be searching for technical and financial assistance to manage their land, everyone received the updated GDNR's "Landowner's Guide to Conservation Incentives."

Sources of financial support for conservation actions were on the minds of landowners and stakeholders. The Service explained how private landowners could take advantage of programs providing funding for conservation, including the Partners for Fish and Wildlife grants and the various grant programs, such as the Private Stewardship Grants Program, Landowner Incentive Program, Recovery Land Acquisition Program, Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Land Acquisition, and HCP Planning Assistance Programs.

Exercises helped reinforce conservation tools concepts and potential sources of funding. Attendees then participated in a hands-on practice session with a hypothetical military installation experiencing increasing residential development pressures. During one session, the fictional situation was replaced with an actual one in which landowners near Fort Stewart needed technical and financial help to manage nearly 2500 acres of family owned land, some of it in the Altamaha River drainage, a natural resource priority area for the Georgia DNR. During this session, FWS, GDNR, DoD biologists and natural resource professionals provided focused assistance tailored to a conservation caring landowner with specific needs.

Natural resource professionals, nongovernmental organizations, and private citizens gained an understanding of conservation tools and their application on private lands. One private landowner, a retired college teacher, remarked, "I got so much from this session. I didn't have a clue all these resources were available. I think all conservation-minded landowners in Georgia would benefit from this workshop."

Workshops that provide a forum for DoD and private landowners and stakeholders can continue to enlist the support of private landowners and local planners around military installations to promote good conservation practices.

Lewis Gorman (lewis_gorman@fws. gov; 703/358-2390) is with the Service's Division of Partnerships and Outreach in the Arlington, Virginia, headquarters office, and serves as the endangered species program liaison to the Department of Defense.