Military readiness requires that joint base langley eustis VA provide training areas and live fire ranges for various active and reserve units

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has awarded a $142,857.14 Cooperative Agreement under its Adaptive Science program (CFDA 15.670) to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) to conduct scientifically defensible surveys of selected macroinvertebrate fauna and flora at Joint Base Langley Eustis in Virginia. The goal of the 2-year project is to provide natural resource personnel with essential data to support environmental planning and compliance with requirements such as the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act, thereby avoiding conflicts between military training activities and environmental stewardship on the installation. This work is critical to enabling Joint Base Langley Eustis to fulfill its mission while meeting federal environmental laws and obligations.

In addition the DOD is required to abide by all national environmental laws such as the endangered species act and the clean water act. These two requirements can lead to conflicts when training activities must change in response to changing mission requirements.therefore IT is necessary for natural resource personnel have the best information available to act proactively in avoiding conflicts between military training and environmental compliance. Natural resource management on military lands is driven by the sikes act which requires the active management of natural resources on military lands. A critical component of military land management is the completion of planning level surveys. The PLS are installation wide inventories to characterize essential components of the installation natural resources related to landform soil water and biota. The kinds locations and sensitivity of the resources serve as the foundation for environmental and natural resource planning including preparation of installation integrated natural resources management plans. The overall goal for the proposed effort is to conduct scientifically defensible surveys for selected macroinvertebrate fauna and flora at joint base langley eustis VA. FE is located in the hampton roads area of southeast virginia on the southwest side of the virginia peninsula which is bordered by the james river and warwick river. The installation is contiguous to the city of newport news and is located on the eastern shoreline of the james river approximately 30 miles upstream of its confluence with the chesapeake BAY.