Director’s Corner
As the CLF Team prepares for an engaging and very busy time next week at DOD’s Climate Resilience Workshop, we are extremely grateful for the continued support of our Partners, excited to announce new additions to our team, appreciative of significant new funding sources, and looking forward to several new REPI Partnerships with DOD and the Military Services in the months ahead. I am pleased to share with you some highlights since our last newsletter.
Breaking News – DoD Selection of Compatible Lands Foundation’s REPI Challenge Pre-Proposals.
DOD received a total of forty-one FY-24 REPI Challenge pre-proposals from organizations around the country. On July 6th, CLF was notified by the OSD REPI Office that DOD is requesting CLF provide full proposals for three out of the four pre-proposals that CLF submitted. Two are supporting the CLF REPI Partnerships at Fort Wainwright and Eielson AFB, Alaska: 1) Sustaining Strategic Operations in the Artic Theater, and 2) Mitigating the Impacts of Wildfire on Readiness and Resilience in Alaska. This is a tremendous opportunity to support military readiness in one of the most geographically important areas in the country. CLF’s third full proposal will support our REPI Partnership at Hill Air Force Base and will strive to improve conditions in the Great Salt Lake Watershed, located in one of the fastest growing regions in the United States.
Great Salt Lake, Utah
Breaking News – DoD Selection of Compatible Lands Foundation’s REPI Challenge Pre-Proposals.
A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing demonstrates aerial refueling capabilities with a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Phot by Airman 1st Class Haiden Morris
CLF will receive $2.5 million in matching funds from the Washington Department of Commerce’s Defense Community Compatibility Account (DCCA) after an appropriation was made in the state budget. The program, created by the Legislature in 2019, aims to help local communities with impacts from nearby military installations across the state. The DCCA funding provided this year, a total of $35.81 million, was the program’s first appropriation by the Legislature. The program includes REPI-related work as a priority activity. This is an exciting opportunity to leverage federal REPI funds with state DCCA funds to help protect Fairchild AFB’s military readiness and resilience. CLF is thankful for the support of the DCCA program by bipartisan state legislators from the Spokane area and the Department of Commerce.
CLF – Hill Air Force Base REPI Partnership
In June 2023, CLF purchased an easement on a tract in the accident potential zone #1 (APZ) south of Hill Air Force Base in Layton, Utah. This restrictive use easement, along with three additional easements CLF has acquired under Hill AFB’s REPI program, conserves the agricultural resources of these properties while limiting land uses incompatible with military training at Hill AFB. CLF continues to work with the Air Force, willing landowners, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to protect Hill AFB’s vital training missions while preserving local agricultural lands in a growing metropolitan area.
DoD Climate Resilience Workshop
The CLF REPI Team, along with several members of our Governing Board, are attending the DoD Climate Resilience Workshop in St. Louis, MO from July 10-13, 2023. This is an excellent opportunity to meet face to face throughout the week with our military partners and fellow REPI stakeholders.
Nancy Schuster Natoli Memorial Dedication
On May 27, 2023 a dedication ceremony was held for the Nancy Schuster Natoli Memorial Preserve. This Memorial Preserve is dedicated in honor of Nancy Schuster Natoli (1965 – 2013), whose career was devoted to the conservation of land and open space, especially land surrounding military installations. The Nancy Schuster Natoli Memorial Preserve is five acres and is situated within the larger, eleven-hundred-acre Elbow Swamp property (and restoration project) that is owned by the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust. Nancy was a REPI pioneer and close friend to many of us at CLF. For additional information please visit: https://www.galandtrust.org/natoli
Pending New CLF REPI Partnership – Eielson AFB, AK
CLF has accepted the US Air Force’s invitation to join a REPI Program partnership with Eielson Air Force Base Alaska. This REPI Partnership, along with existing CLF partnerships at Fort Wainwright and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, will provide the framework to take a holistic approach to strengthening military readiness and resiliency in the Artic region.
Eielson AFB, AK. USAF F22, F-16, F-35A and KC-135. Photo by Capt. Kippun Sumner
CLF New Team Member Highlight – Larry Dotson
Larry is a working farm and forest landowner that comes to CLF with a passion for conservation and over 35 years of military, interagency, and industry experience at the international, national, state, regional, and local levels. As a regional and urban planning professional, Larry was the architect for the Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape and brings recent military resiliency and compatible land use planning expertise from a variety of projects across the Western United States to include Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas and Utah. Larry is an avid adventure rider with tens of thousands of road miles throughout the West. CLF’s Executive Director, Joe Knott, stated that, “We are excited that Larry has accepted a position at Compatible Lands Foundation and welcome him to the CLF Team! Larry’s decades of experience in urban planning, along with his technical knowledge and understanding of DOD’s REPI Program, will benefit CLF’s REPI Partnerships tremendously.”
As always, we appreciate your support and continued interest in our work. For additional information on CLF, please visit us at: www.compatiblelands.org.