Number: 1990-21
WHEREAS, some 13 million acres of public domain lands in the West had been withdrawn from public use for military purposes by 1984; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Defense had under its jurisdiction as of 1984 an additional 15 million acres of land in the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, current proposals for additional acreage for military training purposes, plus additional acquisitions since 1984, add up to more than 10 million acres; and
WHEREAS, military training activities involving heavy tanks and low-level supersonic flights are not compatible with other public land values, such as wildlife, livestock grazing and recreation; and
WHEREAS, impacts of tank maneuvers, artillery exercises, bombing, aerial gunnery and low-level supersonic flights cause serious adverse impacts to many wildlife species; and
WHEREAS, loss of public land use to such training activities will have severe economic and social impacts on thousands of farm and ranching operations, on the recreational opportunities of sportsmen and other outdoor enthusiasts and create tax hardships on many western communities, counties and school districts;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 15-18, 1990, in Denver, Colorado, urge the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Defense to prepare a comprehensive programmatic environmental impact statement to:
- Determine if there is unnecessary duplication in the land acquisition proposals of the State National Guards and other Department of Defense military departments so that costs to the taxpayers can be determined and priorities established in keeping with the training needs of the nation’s military organizations; and
- Determine all environmental, social and economic impacts of each proposed military land acquisition and de facto withdrawal and propose mitigation measures to be carried out; and
- Determine the existing impacts on public lands and national forests from military training exercises; and
- Require that all Department of Defense military departments, including the State National Guards, fully comply with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the National Forest Management Act, the Endangered Species Act and all other applicable federal and state environmental protection statutes and relevant agency regulations implementing such statutes. This includes full public disclosure plus appropriate provisions for public participation in reaching all decisions on these proposals; and
- Make recommendations regarding how best to meet the training needs of the various military departments with minimum adverse environmental impacts to our public lands and national forests, and with minimum duplication and maximum consolidation of facilities among military departments;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all affected federal land management agencies and military departments desist from any activities relative to further public land acquisitions for military training purposes pending completion of the above programmatic environmental impact statement.