Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defence | Official website
Leaders from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of the Interior convened at the Pentagon on Monday to commemorate the renewal of the Recovery and Sustainment Partnership (RASP). This follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this year, aimed at promoting the recovery of threatened and endangered species while simultaneously supporting national security.
Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations, and environment stated, "The DoD has long understood that protecting military lands and the species that reside there supports military readiness training. Through our renewed partnership with the Department of the Interior, we have confirmed our mutual commitment to proactive, innovative, and collaborative approaches to protect imperiled species while increasing flexibility for military activities. We look forward to our continued collaboration and the positive outcomes we can achieve together for national defense and species."
Shannon Estenoz, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks added, "This longstanding partnership between the Departments of the Interior and Defense demonstrates how collaboration can achieve real-world successes for both military readiness and species conservation. Under this agreement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works collaboratively with our military partners to develop innovative conservation plans to conserve at-risk species and achieve recovery goals and objectives for listed species while also supporting national security."
The DoD manages approximately 27 million acres of lands, waters, and airspace that provide crucial environments for developing new technologies, training service members, maintaining high levels of military readiness. These lands represent some unique ecosystems worldwide with tremendous biodiversity. By sustaining federally listed or at-risk species on these lands, DoD advances their conservation while avoiding additional listings under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), ensuring its mission's unhindered execution.
Established in 2018, RASP has advanced ESA-listed species' conservation through action plans development, collaborative initiatives implementation, policy solutions creation. It employs ecosystem management approaches benefiting multiple species while establishing long-term conservation commitments. This approach provides more flexibility for military installations to fulfill their missions, meet ESA requirements, and improve conservation outcomes.
The meeting's participants reviewed RASP's accomplishments and celebrated the increased recovery efforts' effectiveness, providing regulatory relief for military readiness. They expressed support for continued partnership and collaboration to build on the numerous successes achieved so far in enhancing species conservation while sustaining military readiness.
