Land use management and planning is a complex undertaking, with a large number of variables. Management policies in different locations, even with very similar environments, can require completely different considerations, based on the expected use and purpose of the land. Furthermore, the resources available to determine and enact policy will have a significant impact on the quality of policy. This is an important consideration to make when considering applicable land management techniques.
An article titled Federal Land Management, Carbon Sequestration, and Climate Change in the Southeastern U.S.: A Case Study with Fort Benning by Shuqing Zhao examines the effectiveness of federal military land management techniques. Observing ability to sequester carbon in the forests of the Fort Benning military base, Zhao observes the military management’s superiority compared to surrounding federal lands.
National Forest Forested Military Installation
While the military is able to maintain more healthy and long standing forests, it doesn’t seem like we could expect similar behavior and policy to work for different varieties of land use. National Forests and Parks are not used by disciplined, orderly military structures. They require completely different levels of maintenance and consideration. Campers, hunters, scientists, and adjacent landowners are all significant stakeholders, with a variety of demands on the environment not present on a military base. In a military scenario, complete authority is ceded to one group. This allows for decisive, objective based decision making. The maintenance of the forest as a training ground, and as a buffer of isolation is valuable to them, and they are able to efficiently manage and protect it internally.
While some of the management techniques employed by the military may be beneficial to employ elsewhere, it is not easy to simply “apply the same management techniques” to improve carbon sequestration. Only through careful, balanced and customized agreements will different areas be able to effectively manage and provide fair policies to sustain the health and size of their forests in the long run.