To be successful, the military trains like it fights. For this reason, military training lands (as well as lands used for test and evaluation) cannot be allowed to turn into denuded landscapes and ruined ecosystems. The lands must reflect the environment in which human conflict occurs. As a result, it is critical for the DoD to maintain training land conditions so as not to disrupt or jeopardize military readiness and safety.

SERDP and ESTCP seek to ensure military installations have the tools required, both today and in the future, to maintain the lands in a condition sufficient for efficient and effective training. Investments in this area of research ultimately prevent the loss of training land and improves the health and safety of base personnel and the surrounding communities. This research focus provides supplemental tools and research that enable and enhance DoD natural resource and range manager decision-making capabilities. Projects center on improving DoD fire management tools, including making risk-based tradeoffs of frequency and conditions for prescribed burns, managing landscapes to decrease risks from wildfires, and predicting emissions and smoke dispersion patterns that result from wild and prescribed fires.

Subtopics:
Munitions Constituents

SERDP and ESTCP investments are addressing the sustainability of Department of Defense (DoD) testing and training ranges through studies centered on identifying and characterizing contamination sources, as well as understanding the fate and transport of both legacy and new insensitive munitions constituents. Projects have built on this scientific basis to develop and demonstrate technologies that allow for continued operations while preventing migration of contaminants to groundwater. Learn More...

Emissions

Research investments focused on developing and demonstrating technologies that characterize and monitor DoD’s fugitive dust, fire emissions, and predict their dispersion. Learn More...

Munitions Response

SERDP and ESTCP’s Munitions Response focus area develops and demonstrates innovative technologies that can characterize, remediate, and scientifically manage sites affected by military munitions. Learn More...