# Presentation: 518013

## Inventory and Monitoring Programs, U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center,Twentynine Palms

**NREA Division**
**Rhys M. Evans**
**Ecologist**

## Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

- 598,178 Acres
- Primary USMC Base for live fire & Maneuver
- Established 1952

**Notes:**
THE MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER IN TWENTYNINE PALMS IS, AT 598,000 ACRES, THE PRIMARY MARINE CORPS LIVE FIRE AND MANEUVER TRAINING FACILITY. MARINES HAVE BEEN TRAINING HERE SINCE 1952, HOWEVER PORTIONS OF THE AREA WERE ALSO USED BY THE NAVY AND THE ARMY AIR CORPS BEGINNING IN 1941.

MY OBJECTIVE THIS MORNING IS TO PRESENT THE SCOPE, OBJECTIVES AND STATUS OF COMPLETED AND ONGOING INVENTORY PROGRAMS AS WELL AS TO DISCUSS OUR MONITORING EFFORTS.

## Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

- Support Live-Fire Military Training
- Combined Arms Exercise (CAX)
- 22 day rotation, ten times annually

**Notes:**
THE PRIMARY MISSION OF MCAGCC IS TO SUPPORT LIVE-FIRE MILITARY TRAINING.  THE LOS ANGELES TIMES RECENTLY PRINTED INTERVIEWS WHEREIN MARINES CURRENTLY IN AFGHANISTAN STATED THAT THEIR SURROUNDINGS REMINDED THEM OF TWENTYNINE PALMS.  

THE COMBINED ARMS EXERCISE IS THE PRIMARY TRAINING SCENARIO – IT IS A 22 DAY CYCLE REPEATED TEN TIMES ANNUALLY.  ONE-THIRD OF THE ENTIRE MARINE CORPS FLEET MARINE FORCE AND MARINE RESERVE UNITS TRAIN IN 29 PALMS ANNUALLY, THAT’S A TOTAL OF MORE THAN 50,000 PARTICIPANTS.

## Resource Management Need

- Long-term mission sustainability
- Regulatory requirements
- It’s “The right thing to do”

**Notes:**
WE MANAGE OUR RESOURCES TO ENSURE LONG-TERM MISSION AND TRAINING SUSTAINABILITY
COMPLIANCE WITH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS, 
AND SIMPLY BECAUSE IT’S “THE RIGHT THING TO DO”

## Planning 

- Integrated Natural Resources Mgmt Plan (Authority: Sikes Act Improvement Act)
- Integrated Cultural Resources Mgmt Plan (Authority: NHPA, DoD Directive 4715.3)

**Notes:**
MCAGCC’S INTEGRATED NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN, REQUIRED BY THE SIKES ACT IMPROVEMENT ACT, WAS COMPLETED IN NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR.  IT PROVIDES A FIVE-YEAR PLAN TO MANAGE NATURAL RESOURCES AND SUPPORT MILITARY MISSION READINESS BY ENSURING THAT LANDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR SUSTAINED USE.                     COMPLETED IN COOPERATION WITH THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME AND THE US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, IT ALSO HELPS TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS.

OUR INTEGRATED CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN INTEGRATES THE FULL SPECTRUM OF LEGAL MANDATES, MISSION-RELATED ACTIONS, CULTURAL RESOURCES TYPES AND OTHER PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS INTO A SINGLE CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DOCUMENT.  THE ICRMP SHALL REPLACE, BY ENDORSEMENT, THE PROGRAMMATIC AGREEMENT AMONG THE MARINE CORPS, THE CALIFORNIA STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE AND THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION AS WELL AS RELATED NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH SECTIONS 106 AND 110 OF THE NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT. 

## Inventories Completed 

- Vertebrates
- Soils
- Vegetation
- Rare Plants
- Bats
- Bighorn Sheep (Nelson’s)

- Photo: D. Stokes

**Notes:**
THE SIKES ACT AND OTHER REGULATORY DRIVERS REQUIRE INVENTORY OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOUND AT THE COMBAT CENTER. WE’VE COMPLETED A COMPLETE VERTEBRATE SURVEY (UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA), SOILS (USDA SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE), VEGETATION (UC RIVERSIDE), RARE PLANTS (TIERRA DATA SYSTEMS), BATS (BROWN –BERRY BIOLOGICAL) AND BIGHORN SHEEP (SOCIETY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIGHORN SHEEP, IN COOPERATION WITH THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME).

## Desert Tortoise Research completed

- Basewide relative density
- High elevation
- Mortality/Predation
- Home Range
- Disease (ongoing)

- Photo: K. Meyer

**Notes:**
WE’VE COMPLETED VERY SIGNIFICANT DESERT TORTOISE WORK.  BASEWIDE RELATIVE DENSITY ESTIMATION WAS COMPLETED BY KIVA BIOLOGICAL IN 1999 WHICH INCLUDED MORE THAN 1400 MILES OF TRIANGULAR TRANSECTS. UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDENTS COMPLETED TWO VERY IMPORTANT PROJECTS, A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT EARLY LIFE STAGE MORTALITY SOURCES BY CURTIS BJURLIN, AND TY GARDNER EXAMINED TORTOISE USE OF SUB-OPTIMAL HABITATS, PRIMARILY HIGH ELEVATION AREAS. 
DR. TONY KRZYSIK LED A COMPARATIVE HOME RANGE STUDY BETWEEN MCAGCC AND THE PINTO BASIN OF JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK.  
FINALLY, WE HAVE IN THE PAST TWO YEARS STARTED MORE INTENSIVE RESEARCH INTO TORTOISE DISEASE AND PATHOLOGY – THIS EFFORT IS BEING LED BY DR. KRISTIN BERRY OF THE USGS.  WE HAVE RECENTLY CONFIRMED EXPOSURE TO MYCOPLASMOSIS AND HERPESVIRUS IN SOME OF OUR TORTOISE POPULATIONS. 

## Line Distance Sampling

- L

- d

- d

- detected animal

- undetected animal

- detected animal

- detected animal

- d

- _MULTI-AGENCY APPROACH!_

**Notes:**
AS PHIL MEDICA EXPLAINED YESTERDAY, THERE IS A MULTI-AGENCY, MULTI-STATE APPROACH TO LONG-TERM DESERT TORTOISE POPULATION TREND MONITORING.  BECAUSE PHIL TALKED ABOUT THIS IN DEPTH YESTERDAY, I WOULD JUST ADD THAT THE MARINE CORPS AND OTHER DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AGENCIES HAVE BEEN HEAVILY INVOLVED IN METHODOLOGY, TESTING AND ESPECIALLY THE FUNDING OF LINE DISTANCE SAMPLING EFFORTS TO THIS POINT.  WE ALSO PARTICIPATE IN THE DESERT TORTOISE MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT GROUP AND THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THAT SAME GROUP.

## Inventories ongoing

- Fairy Shrimp
- Invertebrates
- Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard
- Reptiles

- Photo: M. Cablk

**Notes:**
CURRENT RESEARCH INCLUDES AN AQUATIC INVERTEBRATE – SLASH – FAIRY SHRIMP SURVEY BEING CONDUCTED BY CHAMBERS GROUP / UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO AND TERRESTRIAL INVERTEBRATES BY UCR. FIELD WORK HAS BEEN COMPLETED BUT FINAL REPORTS REMAIN OUTSTANDING FOR MOJAVE FRINGE-TOED LIZARD HABITAT STUDIES  CONDUCTED BY THE DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND WE COOPERATED WITH A REGIONAL REPTILE DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION STUDY CONDUCTED BY SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY AND USGS-BRD   (ROBERT FISHER DISCUSSED THAT PROJECT YESTERDAY).

## Recent and Current Projects

- Bighorn Sheep Guzzlers
- Bat Gates
- Free-roaming dog  trapping
- Tamarisk eradication

**Notes:**
RECENTLY COMPLETED PROJECTS INCLUDE THE INSTALLATION OF TWO BIGHORN SHEEP GUZZLERS BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIGHORN SHEEP (WE’RE NOW MONITORING WATER LEVELS IN THE TANKS WITH DAILY TRANSMISSIONS TO A SATELLITE). FOUR BAT-COMPATIBLE GATES WERE INSTALLED IN THREE HISTORIC MINES, THE ENDANGERED SPECIES RECOVERY COUNCIL CONDUCTED A PILOT STUDY TO LIVE-CAPTURE FREE-ROAMING DOGS AND WE HAVE ERADICATED MORE THAN 30,000 TAMARISK OR SALTCEDAR IN THE LAST THREE YEARS.

## Monitoring	

- Land Condition Trend Analysis (LCTA)
- Land Use Contingency Model (LUCM)
- Land Management System (LMS)
- Ecological DYnamics Simulation (EDYS)
- Erosion
- Change Detection / Remote Sensing
- In progress review, 21 February

**Notes:**
THE LAND CONDITION TREND ANALYSIS IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE INTEGRATED TRAINING AREA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (OR ITAM) THAT RUTH WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT.  THIS PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY, IN ADDITION TO IT’S COMPONENT LAND USE CONTINGENCY MODEL, IS TO SUPPORT SOUND NATURAL RESOURCE AND LAND USE MANAGEMENT DECISIONS.  THE LUCM IS A GIS-BASED TOOL FOR INTEGRATING MILITARY LAND USE AND NATURAL RESOURCES INFORMATION TO EVALUATE THE CAPACITY OF THE LAND TO SUPPORT TRAINING ACTIVITIES AND PREDICT LAND IMPACTS FROM ALTERNATIVE TRAINING SCENARIOS.  WE’VE ELECTED TO NOT FULLY IMPLEMENT THIS MODEL UNTIL SOME STANDARDIZATION PROTOCOLS ARE AGREED UPON, WHICH IS THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF OUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS WORKSHOP.

I’M HONESTLY A LITTLE HESITANT TO DISCUSS THE LAND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OR LMS BECAUSE THERE ARE ABOUT TWENTY PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM WHO KNOW FAR MORE ABOUT IT THAN I DO.  WE’RE HAVING AN IN PROGRESS REVIEW OF THIS PROJECT IN LATE FEBRUARY...

## Conclusion

- Photo: J. Heaton

**Notes:**
IN SUMMARY, THE COMMAND HAS A GOOD HANDLE ON THE RESOURCES PRESENT AT THE INSTALLATION.  THE DOD HAS BEEN A VERY ACTIVE PLAYER IN THE DESERT MANAGERS GROUP, THE WEST MOJAVE COORDINATED MANAGEMENT PLAN, THE DESERT TORTOISE MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT GROUP AND OTHER REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

WHEN PLANNING FOR THE LONG-TERM SUSTANABILITY OF THE MAGTF TRAINING COMMAND’S MISSION, THE MARINE CORPS REALIZES THAT OUR SUSTAINABILITY MUST BE LINKED TO A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT.  THIS CAN BEST BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH THE STANDARDIZATION OF DATABASES AND THE MODELING / MONITORING OF RESOURCES.  
ONCE THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED, WE CAN TRULY BEGIN TO MANAGE THE ECOSYSTEM WITH A COHERENT APPROACH.  I WANT TO THANK THE DESERT MANAGER’S GROUP FOR HOSTING THIS WORKSHOP AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE A GROUND-BREAKING APPROACH TO ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU.