CLF starts 2025 as the REPI Program Partner for nineteen military installations across ten states, from northern Alaska to southern Florida, Arizona to Tennessee and Kentucky, Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Washington, and Utah. This includes new partnerships with Columbus AFB, Mississippi and LAFB, Texas

To date, CLF holds one-hundred and twenty-six REPI easements near military installations, protecting in perpetuity nearly 26,200 acres across the nation.

In 2024, CLF protected military readiness and resilience by closing on twenty projects at eight installations in Alaska, Kentucky, Texas, Washington, and Utah. The REPI program contributed $19,017,000, combined with $10,390,000 in partner contribution, to purchase one-thousand six-hundred and twenty-seven acres.

We are especially proud of our first acquisitions at Dyess AFB, Texas; Fairchild AFB, Washington; and US Army Garrison, Alaska, as well as the first acquisition under our 2023 Camp Bullis REPI Challenge award.

Compatible Lands Foundation supports Randolph AFB, Lackland AFB, and Camp Bullis at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA). CLF is partnering with the City of San Antonio, to help protect the quality and quantity of the water recharging into the Edwards Aquifer through the protection of land over the sensitive Recharge and Contributing Zones of the aquifer. The partnership has already resulted in the acquisition of a parcel which was funded with $3.1 million in 2023 REPI Challenge funds and matched with $3.1 million from the City of San Antonio.

Water quality and quantity from local springs and incompatible development are the major concerns. CLF is working with the base through our REPI partnership to ensure that LAFB continues its missions into the future.

CLF also entered into a new REPI partnership with Columbus Air Force Base (CAFB). Located north of Columbus, Mississippi, CAFB is home to the 14th Flying Training Wing. In addition to the flying training mission, CAFB has the capability to deploy personnel at a moment’s notice to support worldwide taskings and contingencies.

CLF is partnering with CAFB to acquire land through restrictive use easements to reduce incompatible development, including new mining development, near the base. Protected buffer areas will also provide ecosystem services such as water purification, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitat for the northern Long-Eared Bat, the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, and other threatened and endangered species.

CLF strengthened our mutually beneficial partnership with the US Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service, (USDA-NRCS), conserving hundreds of acres of critically important working lands in Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, and Utah.

In October 2024, CLF was awarded funding for two Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) projects. One will support Fort Campbell, KY with $2.44 million. The second will support Fort Cavazos, TX and Dyess Air Force Base, TX with $1.22 million. Funding will be used to purchase both working land and non-working land easements to prevent loss of working lands, habitat, and open space and to address incompatible land use impacting military missions.

CLF partnered with the UT NRCS to purchase an easement at Hill AFB, and with the KY NRCS to purchase an easement at Fort Campbell. Together, NRCS provided $3.4 million in contributions which matched $3.6 million in military partner contributions resulting in 134-acres being protected in perpetuity.

The PTRF is an $18.5 million DOD asset vital to continued operations and research in Alaska; benefitting the U.S. Army Garrison Alaska and 11th Airborne Division in the execution of its Arctic missions, as well as other military branches and federal agencies.

CLF also received a $149,000 award to focus on the long-term preservation of the Weber Water Basin at Hill Air Force Base (HAFB), Utah. HAFB is located just north of Salt Lake City. The base faces pressure from continued urbanization within the greater Great Salt Lake region.

This frequent development also rapidly decreases permeable surface area, threatening recharge zones within the Weber Water Basin that feeds the aquifer. Protecting the Weber River Basin promotes the long-term mission sustainment of HAFB and benefits the protection of the Great Salt Lake and greater Great Salt Lake Watershed, which are severely threatened.

In 2024, CLF completed our fourth and final year of serving Veterans in need through our partnership with the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), along with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, via our Veterans’ Farming Education and Training (FEAT) facility.

In addition to ongoing collaboration with the Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape, CLF is excited to work with the State of Utah supporting the Great Salt Lake (GSL) Sentinel Landscape, established in 2024, which spans over 2.7 million acres in northern Utah and contains the Western Hemisphere’s largest saline lake.

Our REPI partner, Hill AFB, is one of four military installations with unique missions and capabilities that fall within the GSL Sentinel Landscape. Together they offer extensive training, testing, and logistical support for all the Military Services.

To keep pace with our growing number of REPI partnerships, CLF continues to bring on board new employees, including Karen, Clayton, Mary, Katie, Kinkel, and Heidi.

Karen Bishop, Water Resilience Program Manager. Karen recently retired from the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) after 22 years of project and program management. During her last decade at SARA, Karen created and oversaw the low impact development (LID) program that resulted in modification of the City of San Antonio Unified Development Code to incentivize LID.

Clayton Livingston, REPI Program Manager. Clayton is an AICP-certified planner dedicated to fostering collaboration and engagement to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for military installations and local defense communities. Clayton contributed to the creation of the Air Force’s climate resilience program. Before joining CLF, Clayton worked as a resiliency planner for the United States Naval Academy.

Mary Nixon, REPI Program Manager. Mary worked for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center REPI Office in San Antonio with projects in Texas and Alaska. Mary also has over 20 years’ experience working for the Air Force in numerous roles as an Air Force civilian and as a contractor in San Antonio and at the Pentagon. Mary is a U.S. Army veteran.

Katie Poirier, Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator. Katie is an experienced executive leader specializing in project management, community development, and strategic partnerships. She is the CEO of Comice Consulting, a startup dedicated to sustainable solutions. Katie served as Executive Director of the Growe and Mollen Foundations and was the Project Director for PHX Renews.

Kinkel Rowan, Communications and Community Engagement Program Manager. Kinkel is a Creative Producer with 20 years of advertising and marketing experience. Kinkel has worked for big advertising agencies like McCann Worldgroup and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Kinkel has successfully led numerous global advertising campaigns from concept to completion.

Heidi Morton, Executive Assistant. Heidi has a wealth of experience that includes teaching Secondary Education Social Studies where she also served as the Athletic Director. Heidi has also served as a Coordinator for a number of organizations. Heidi also participates in volunteer opportunities that include supporting the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Arizona Earth Team, and the Montana Executive Team of the National FFA. When not working with CLF, Heidi is homeschooling her two young children. Heidi has a BA degree in Secondary Education from Montana State University.