DoD Natural Resources Webinar, Legacy Resource Management Program Project 18-842: Engaging Service Members in Habitat Restoration and Conservation.
In partnership with Colorado State University's Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) Fish & Wildlife has built a year-round internship program for injured and retiring active-duty service members, as well as veterans, military spouses, and college students from 14 different schools. The program, called Operation Wildlife, produces over 15,000 volunteer hours per year, and staffs everything from rare species surveys and habitat/population mapping to invasive plant control, restoration forestry, and wildland firefighting. In this presentation, Dennis Buckingham will provide an overview of the Operation Wildlife program, detail annual projects and successes, and describe tools that can be used to build similar programs on other installations in the future.