Reference Document 5-2
Appendix 5
most installations (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2024). INRMPs must be prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state fish and wildlife agencies as they are meant to reflect the mutual agreement and shared priorities concerning the conservation, protection, and management of fish and wildlife resources. The Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program is designed to minimize incompatible development and loss of habitat in the area around military installations by using permanent conservation easements, fee-sales, or other interests in land from willing landowners. In the case of conservation easements or similar agreements, the landowner retains ownership and rights to use the land for the purposes specified in the agreement. While INRMPs focus primarily on lands and resources within DoD installation boundaries, many installations’ species and habitats are more effectively and efficiently managed at the ecosystem or landscape scale. Examples include preserving uninhabited flight lines and allowing for prescribed burn regimes to reduce wildland fire risks. Also, the presence of natural intact habitats can enhance wilderness training exercises. The DoD has legal authority to spend appropriated funds for conservation beyond its installation boundary lines through the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program. The REPI Program addresses land-use conflicts that restrict military activities. A key component of the REPI Program is the use of encroachment management partnerships, referred to as REPI projects. The REPI Program enables DoD to enter into cost-share agreements to acquire additional lands in order to, among other purposes, preserve habitat or improve installation resilience. Eligible properties targeted for acquisition need only be ecologically related to military installations. These cost-sharing partnerships between the military services, state and local governments, and private conservation organizations allow for the acquisition of easements or other interests in land from willing sellers that preserve critical buffer areas and habitat near military installations. Importantly, REPI funding may be used to facilitate off-installation natural resources management when easements or land acquisitions may not be necessary nor available. As North Carolina already has a statutory seat at the table during the preparation and annual reviews of DoD installation INRMPs, the REPI Program offers an opportunity to bring off-installation conservation opportunities to the installation’s attention. Conversely, inviting installation natural resources managers to be more engaged in the SWAP process could reveal to the State previously unrecognized opportunities to collaborate on cost-shared conservation projects to the mutual benefit of DoD and the State, as well as to the species and habitats addressed by the effort.
The Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscape Partnership
Sentinel Landscapes represent well-defined geographies where the military, conservation, agriculture, and forestry communities have shared interests. Founded in 2013 by the US. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, and Department of the Interior, Sentinel Landscapes Partnerships are coalitions of federal agencies, state and local governments, and non-governmental organizations that work with willing landowners and land managers to advance sustainable land use practices around military installations and ranges. These partnerships achieve their missions by empowering landowners and
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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