Envisioning a Future Framework for Managing Land and Water Resources

Abstract

Effective land and water resources management has become an increasingly difficult and challenging task. There are more and more demands and a shrinking resource base. Land and water resource managers face many new legislative requirements, demands from increasingly sophisticated and often conflicting interest groups, and pressure to accurately project and evaluate the costs, benefits, options, and potential short term, long term, and cumulative consequences of any proposed management actions. In particular, the civil works and military land management challenges facing the U.S. Army include the need to:

• · integrate multiple uses of lands and water resources,

• · sustain mission use of training and testing ranges,

• · restore contaminated sites,

• · restore aquatic and upland ecosystems,

• · manage noise propagation,

• · partner with stakeholders in ecosystem and watershed planning, restoration, and management,

• · evaluate proposed activities on wetlands (permitting),

• · manage coastal zone, watershed, and riverine resources,

• · maintain navigable waterways and conduct dredging operations,

• · maintain effective flood control measures,

• · assess chemical and biological threats and risk pathways, and

• · evaluate the use of military lands within larger urban landscapes.