Annex 1. Climate and Terrain Analysis

DCN: 7799 Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA ANNEX 1. CLIMATE AND TERRAIN ANALYSIS 1.1 Introduction TABS addressed the climate and terrain area comments stated within Department of Defense Selection Criterion #2, which identifies the availability and condition of land throughout a diversity of climate and terrain as a key military value criterion. "The availability and condition of land, facilities and associated airspace (including training areas suitable for maneuver by ground, naval, or air forces throughout a diversity of climate and terrain areas and staging areas for the use of the Armed Forces in homeland defense missions) at both existing and potential receiving locations.” TABS identified installation coverage across different climate and terrain regimes and compared this coverage to Army maneuver land capability, since the capability to maneuver is the Army capability most influenced by land type. Other Army capabilities (e.g., industrial, admin, depot, etc.) are not as restricted by regime. 1.2 Definitions Maneuver / Training Areas – lands that provide space for the movement of combat forces and equipment under simulated battlefield conditions for training purposes in order to improve combat readiness. Terrestrial Habitats (Regimes) – areas that share similar environmental conditions, habitat structure, and patterns of biodiversity. A total of 14 major habitat types exist, ranging from forests to deserts. The 14 major habitat types include the full extent of continental topographic relief. Army installations reside within nine of these 14 habitats. 1.3 Approach TABS followed these steps: 1. Identified the major habitat types within the 50 United States and Puerto Rico where Army installations reside. 2. Identified U.S. Army installations with maneuver areas greater than 10,000 acres. 3. Determined which habitat these installations were located within. TABS used certified data to conduct the analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) to map the habitat regions and the 87 Army installations studied within BRAC 2005.1 GIS provided a visual representation of the major habitat types and their relation to Army installations. 1 Ten leases within Army BRAC 2005 analysis are not considered here because the leases are admin buildings and do not include potential training lands. Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Step 1: Identifying Habitat Types A broad terrestrial view, including unique combinations of temperature, precipitation, topographic relief, and vegetative structure, provides a complete representation of climate and terrain for this analysis. TABS utilized the Global 200 ranking of the Earth’s habitats, which is a science-based global ranking of the Earth’s terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats. Developed by the World Wildlife Fund, Global 200 represents a comparative analysis of every major habitat type. Habitats range from the wettest of forest types to the driest and hottest desert conditions; they include the full extent of continental topographic relief: Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests – low variability in annual temperature and high level of rainfall, dominated by semi- evergreen and evergreen deciduous trees Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests – similar to above but subject to long dry seasons which can last several months Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests – wide range of variability in temperature and precipitation Temperate Coniferous Forests – evergreen forests common in coastal areas with mild winters and heavy rainfall, or inland in drier mountainous areas Boreal Forests / Taiga – low annual temperatures in northerly latitudes; precipitation falls mainly as snow Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands – large expanses of land in the tropics that do not receive enough precipitation to support extensive tree cover Temperate Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands – similar to above, but have a much broader annual temperature regime, known as prairies in North America Deserts and Xeric Shrubs – receive less than 10 inches of precipitation annually with wide temperature extremes Mediterranean Forest, Woodlands – hot dry summers, cool and moist winters Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Step 2: Identifying Maneuver Areas Army BRAC 2005 objectives include: “...providing Army units and activities with sufficient, sustainable maneuver and training space in a wide variety of geographic, topographic, and climatic conditions in support of Joint training, testing, and experimentation and Homeland Defense.” In order to meet this objective, and satisfy Criterion #2, TABS identified and maintained those installations with sustainable maneuver land in each of the habitats where the Army currently has maneuver lands. Maneuver land requirements for a “company” size unit are approximately 10,000 acres; therefore TABS identified installations with 10,000 maneuver acres or more within each habitat. For company level training, 10,000 acres is sufficient, but, in the interest of looking at the sensitivity of our results to this acreage requirement, we also considered installations with 5,000 maneuver acres. Step 3: Creating a Thematic Map of Army Installations and Habitat Types The data from the previous steps were brought into a GIS software package and used to create a thematic map depicting Army installations and the habitats where they are located. The GIS software enabled us to query the data sets and produce results based on the aforementioned criteria. Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA 1.4 Analysis Tabs mapped Army installations and differentiated between those with available maneuver areas and those without across the nine major habitat types Army installations reside in. Figure 1 depicts the location of each installation within its respective habitat. Figure 1. Installations and Habitat Types Green symbols in Figure 1 represent installations with more than 10K maneuver acres. One additional installation is considered when we relax the 10K requirement to 5K (yellow). Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Table 1 summarizes the habitat type and the number of installations within the habitat that meet the required level of maneuver lands. TABS concentrated on the gray column; three habitats currently have no maneuver capable installations located within them. TOTAL # OF # WITH >10,000 # WITH >5,000 #HABITAT TYPE INSTALLATIONS MANEUVER ACRES MANEUVER ACRES Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed 1 42 9 9 Forests 2 Temperate Coniferous Forests 13 6 7 Temperate Grasslands, 3 13 5 5 Savannas & Shrub lands 4Deserts & Xeric Shrub lands 11 7 7 2 2 2 5 Boreal Forests / Taiga (Ft. Wainwright) (Ft. Wainwright) (Ft. Wainwright) (Ft. Richardson) (Ft. Richardson) (Ft. Richardson) 2 Tropical and Subtropical Moist 1 1 6 (Ft. Buchanan) Broadleaf Forests (Schofield Barracks) (Schofield Barracks) (Schofield Barracks) 2 Tropical & Subtropical Dry 7 (Tripler Army Medical Center) 00 Broadleaf Forests (Ft. Shafter) Tropical & Subtropical 1 8 Grasslands, Savannas & Shrub 00 (Corpus Christi Army Depot) Lands Mediterranean Forests, 1 9 00 Woodlands & Scrub (Presidio of Monterey) Table 1. Installations by Habitat Type Table 1 shows that 42 of the Army installations are in the Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forest Habitat and that 9 of these installations have more than 10,000 acres of maneuver lands. TABS ensured that the Army maintained at least one of these nine installations resided within the Temperate Broadleaf habitat. The same thought process holds for habitats 2-4. For example, TABS ensured the Army retained an installation in the Deserts & Xeric Shrub lands habitat (currently there are seven), and kept Schofield Barracks and at least one of either Fort Wainwright or Fort Richardson within the Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forest and Boreal Forest/Taiga habitats, respectively. Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA Draft Deliberative Document - For Discussion Purposes Only - Do Not Release Under FOIA 1.5 Summary TABS identified installation coverage across different climate and terrain habitats; compared habitat coverage to Army maneuver land capability; and determined the necessary climate and terrain restrictions on Army portfolio analysis. Using climate and terrain characteristics, TABS addressed the requirement stated within Department of Defense Selection Criterion #2: "The availability and condition of land, facilities and associated airspace (including training areas suitable for maneuver by ground, naval, or air forces throughout a diversity of climate and terrain areas and staging areas for the use of the Armed Forces in homeland defense missions) at both existing and potential receiving locations.” TABS identified installations with more than 10,000 acres of maneuver areas in each habitat because, in the Army, climate and terrain types mostly influence maneuver land quality and training diversity. The analysis illustrates

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