Alert: is the US military the best hope for some endangered species? Maybe

The red-cockaded woodpecker, endangered since 1970, may have a new best friend: the US military. The Pentagon is eager for you to believe it, and the claim--so far as it goes--has merit. The North Carolina Sandhills, home to the Army's Fort Bragg, boasts one of the largest populations of the threatened bird. The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 9,000 acres of wildlife habitat around the base, with funding from the US Department of Defense (DoD).

The unlikely partnership represents the Pentagon's "new commitment" to environmental sustainability. And efforts are being made: In 2004, Congress voted $12.5 million for "cooperative conservation" projects such as Fort Bragg's. At least 20 such projects are now in progress, with The Nature Conservancy involved in almost all. The need is clear: Military installations--ironically, the only green spaces left in some areas--harbor more than 300 endangered and threatened species.

Still, it's duplicitous, say many environmentalists. "Publicly, the Pentagon positions itself as 'going green.' But behind the scenes, it's doing all it can to avoid responsibility for the environmental damage it has already done, which threatens soldiers and civilians on its bases and the people who live nearby," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which represents civilian employees on military bases.

Nearly 29 million Americans live within 10 miles of a military base slated for Superfund cleanup, and more than 100 DoD facilities are on the Superfund list of worst toxic waste sites. DoD has taken "extraordinary steps to limit the military's accountability for a 50-year legacy of pollution," according to an investigative series in USA Today in October 2004. At the same time that the Pentagon is publicizing campaigns about its eco-commitment, its lobbyists have won exemptions from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, and they are seeking exemptions from the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

"Clearly some environmentalists find things to criticize in how the military deals with a lot of things," Bob Barnes, The Nature Conservancy's senior policy administrator for its DoD projects, tells VT. "But on the conservation programs we're involved in, environmentalists are highly supportive. And from my experience, the military has a surprisingly sophisticated attitude on environmental issues for which it gets little credit."

Time will tell, How much time, of course, is the issue--for soldiers, civilians and red-cockaded woodpeckers.

WRITE, CALL OR EMAIL

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (PEER)

2001 S STREET, NW

SUITE 570

WASHINGTON, DC 20009

202.265.7337

PEER.ORG

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

4245 NORTH FAIRFAX DRIVE

SUITE 100

ARLINGTON, VA 22203

800.628.6860

NATURE.ORG

Alan Pell Crawford is a former congressional press secretary and US Senate speechwriter.

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