Department of the Army March 20, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Army announces the availability of its ROD for the Proposed Addition of Maneuver Training Land at Fort Irwin, California. On 20 January 2006, the Army published a notice of availability of its SFEIS. The SFEIS reviewed the environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic impacts of five action alternatives associated with the addition of maneuver training land at Fort Irwin, as well as a No Action (status quo) alternative. Based on the SFEIS, the Army has demised to implement Alternative I, the East/West Alternative. Under this alternative, additional lands totaling approximately 150,510 acres would be added to the available training lands. The decision includes training in new areas to the east and west of the existing Fort Irwin, and in a portion of southern Fort Irwin previously off-limits to training. Expansion of the maneuver area of the National Training Center (FTC) provides an extended battle space (land and air) for training Army brigade-sized units according to the Army's training and combat operations. Today's Army can drive faster, shoot farther, and operate over wider ranges than the Army of 1981, when the FTC opened. These advances in technology are the driving factor for this expansion. Alternative I was chosen because it best meets the Army's need for additional training land. There are impacts to many natural resources expected as part of the proposed action. Mitigation has been proposed to offset the impacts identified in the SFEIS. Even taking into account this mitigation, however, there will still be significant impacts to threatened and endangered species, loss of vegetation cover, loss and disruption of soil surfaces, and loss of wilderness characteristics to adjacent wideness areas. The decision also restates the army's continuing commitment to environmental stewardship by implementing mitigation and monitoring measurers to offset potential reverse environmental impacts associated with the preferred alternative, as identified in the SFEIS and the ROD.