Public Agency Land Use and Land Use Controls

This project focused on developing recommendations toward a strategy for managing and using public agency land, specifically the approximately 14 million acres of land owned by the United States Army, in a way that concurrently optimizes ability to train, minimizes costs, and protects ecosystem quality. The objective of the project was to meet Army needs and objectives while not compromising the needs and objectives of complementary stakeholders in constructing an evaluation framework for comparing Army land management options at a meta-installation scale. The outcome of this project was a review of existing land use policies for the Army, a framework for evaluation of candidate land use strategies, and recommendations for a comprehensive land use strategy to be implemented jointly by the Army and DoD. The purpose of the framework is to balance land assets and operational constraints with mission requirements across multiple installations by enabling decision makers to compare the implications of different installation configurations (defined by land assets and their use for mission requirements) in terms of the constraints and objectives of all relevant stakeholder groups. This study was complemented by a concurrent study of existing land use control practices for the public and private sector, a framework for evaluation of candidate land use controls, and recommendations for a comprehensive land use control strategy to be implemented by the Army. The project was sponsored by the Army Environmental Policy Institute.

Resources:

Estes, J., Pearce, A.R., and Young, A.E. (2003). Army/DoD Land Strategy. Final Project Report to Army Environmental Policy Institute, Atlanta, GA.

Bryant, F. and Pearce, A.R. (2003). Army Land Use Controls. Final Project Report to Army Environmental Policy Institute, Atlanta, GA.

For more information on this project, contact Dr. John Estes at john.estes@gtri.gatech.edu.