Endangered Species Conservation on the Military Estate

Schimmel/Conrades Science Center 163

The U.S. Department of Defense harbors a higher density of endangered species on its installations than any other federal land management agency including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Similar patterns arise around the world in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and England. To fully utilize this resource of biodiversity and embrace this unlikely partner, it is necessary for conservation scholars to understand how exactly this happened. There are many complex factors that led to this outcome that I will discuss. Many of these factors were accidental and are intertwined in the entangled history between the environment and the military. Other factors arose more recently through the intentional actions of the Department of Defense. Together these factors will help us understand the future of biodiversity on the military estate.