Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan ii Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan iii Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan PREPARER-REVIEWER PAGE This Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) was prepared and reviewed by the following people and organizations: Prepared by: Michael A. Ciaranca John P. Kelly Natural Resource Manager Natural Resource Planner Camp Edwards Training Site Camp Edwards Training Site Reviewed by: Camp Edwards Training Site Michael A. Ciaranca Natural Resources Manager Camp Edwards Training Site LTC Randall J. Cordeiro Director, Plans, Operations, Training, and Military Support Camp Edwards Training Site LTC Mary Mixson Range Control Officer Camp Edwards Training Site Massachusetts Army National Guard Shaun C. Cody Director of Environmental Affairs MAARNG COL Richard V. Crivello Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations MAARNG Brian Nickerson Master Planner MAARNG iv Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan Massachusetts Army National Guard cont. William Sullivan Operations Manager MAARNG National Guard Bureau COL Jeffrey G. Phillips Division Chief NGB-ARE Beth Law Branch Chief NGB–ARE CPT. Steve Stadelman Natural Resources/Forestry NGB-ARE Dr. Lee Barber ITAM Program Manager NBG–ART Kristin Leahy Cultural Resources NGB-ARE Brett Wood ITAM Coordinator NGB–ART Chris Williams NEPA Program Manager NGB–ARE Helen Yusko Public Affairs Specialist NGB–PAI-E v Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Jason Zimmer MADFW SE District Manager U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Anthony Tur USFWS New England Field Office General Public vi Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan Preface The Massachusetts Army National Guard (MAARNG) is required by the Sikes Act to develop and implement an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) for the Camp Edwards Training Site. The INRMP is the installation commander’s adaptive plan for managing natural communities and natural resources to support and be consistent with the military mission while protecting and enhancing those natural communities and resources for multiple use, sustainable yield, and biological integrity. “The purpose of the INRMP is to ensure that natural resource conservation measures and Army activities on mission lands are consistent with federal stewardship requirements” (US Army National Guard Bureau, 2000) and to sustain native natural resources on an ecosystem scale and to comply with current legal mandates while resulting in no net loss in capability to fulfill the military training mission. The Camp Edwards INRMP supports and guides the Massachusetts National Guard’s Final Environmental Impact Report (2001). The Environmental Performance Standards (EPS) listed in the Massachusetts National Guard’s Area Wide FEIR and as required by M.G.L. Chapter 47 Acts of 2002 serve as the guide by which MAARNG training and natural resources management is conducted on Camp Edwards. These EPS’s are continuosly incorporated with federal environmental and land management programs specified by military regulation and federal law. The INRMP, to the extent appropriate and applicable, integrates and aids in achieving the standards set forth within the EPS’s. For a complete description of the EPS’s, please refer to the Massachusetts National Guard’s Area Wide FEIR (2001). Also, the INRMP integrates current environmental management practices incorporated in the Camp Edwards Regulations 385-63 (Range Safety) and the MAARNG’s Natural Resources and Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) Programs. In addition, the Environmental Readiness Center was formed to help guide and implement the aforementioned documents, laws, regulations, standards, and programs. The MAARNG Natural Resource Office has and will continue to consult and cooperate with state and federal environmental agencies throughout the development and implementation of the INRMP, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC), the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Department of Environmental Protection (MASSDEP), the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife/Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (DFW/NHESP) are involved with INRMP creation and implementation. Since the 1950s, and more frequently in the last 20 years, the MAARNG has received input and adopted management practices from several federal and state agencies and non-profit organizations in Massachusetts. The DFW has provided consultation and support on white tail deer (Odocoileus virginiana) hunting on Camp vii Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan Edwards since 1955 and was instrumental in reintroducing wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in the 1980s which subsequently resulted in the first turkey harvest in the spring of 2000 and continues today. The NHESP conducted a grassland bird survey (White and Melvin 1985) of the cantonment area of the MMR. Within the report for the survey were recommendations for managing the grassland habitats on the MMR for rare bird species. These recommendations were in part adopted by the MAARNG and have been followed since the time of the initial survey. The NHESP has also been instrumental in conducting a comprehensive floristic survey of Camp Edwards (Jenkins 1994), as well as a moth survey that documented the 16 state-listed species of moths that inhabit the Camp Edwards Impact Area for at least part of their life cycle (Mello et al. 1999). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has conducted research on the MMR since the 1980s. Throughout the course of this research, the USDA has focused on the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillar and the Asian longhorn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), which has not been recorded in Massachusetts, and has utilized various areas of Camp Edwards as study sites. The Environmental Management Commission created by “Chapter 47 of the Acts of 2002” was established to verify, through independent oversight, monitoring, and evaluation, the compatibility of training with environmental protection. The MAARNG Natural Resource Office has also coordinated with multiple agencies on a single task. For instance, the Cape Cod National Seashore within the National Park Service (NPS), the MASSDEP, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have assisted in planning and conducting the prescribed burn program on Camp Edwards. UMASS completed a prescribed burn management plan in 2000 (revised by MAARNG in 2006) to provide direction on future prescribed burning on Camp Edwards. An objective of the Camp Edwards INRMP is to compile and consolidate the management recommendations from the survey and study reports to provide a comprehensive management plan (i.e., INRMP) for the natural communities and natural resources on Camp Edwards. Input and comments from all agencies that have reviewed the Camp Edwards INRMP were taken into account and incorporated where appropriate. Ease of interpretation is the intent of this plan, so that the natural resources of Camp Edwards may be properly managed and protected while providing the most beneficial training experience for the MAARNG. The Camp Edwards Natural Resource Office currently maintains a web site that describes in detail the natural resources of Camp Edwards, including the flora, fauna, and rare species, the ITAM Program, and other natural resources surveys and research. The site can be accessed at www.eandrc.org. viii Camp Edwards Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................XIV LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................XVI LIST OF ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................XVIII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................... XXI SECTION I. TRAINING SITE OVERVIEW............................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1. LOCATION AND ACREAGE ........................................................................ 1 1.1 LOCATION .................................................................................................................................................1 1.2 ACREAGE AND ACQUISITION ..................................................................................................................2 1.3 INSTALLATION HISTORY..........................................................................................................................4 1.4 NEIGHBORS ...............................................................................................................................................5 1.5 SATELLITE INSTALLATIONS .....................................................................................................................6 CHAPTER 2. MILITARY MISSION ...................................................................................... 6 2.1 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................6 2.1.1 Military Mission........................................................................................................................................6