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Natural Resources Management
About
The DOW works with federal, state, and other partners to manage 27 million acres of military lands, ensuring military readiness, sustainable natural resource management, and environmental protection are achieved. Healthy, natural landscapes provide realistic training environments for warfighters while preserving critical lands, plants, animals, air, and water. These efforts contribute to resilient, connected landscapes beyond installation boundaries, benefiting both military readiness and broader conservation goals. The SERPPAS Natural Resources Management work group connects DOW and partners to drive innovative strategies that increase flexibility for addressing impacts on military missions while achieving complimentary natural resource management goals at a regional scale.
Strategic Objectives
- Identify opportunities to streamline regulatory compliance, enhance military mission readiness, and accelerate partner plans (e.g. State Wildlife Action Plans, Installation Integrated Natural Resources Management Plans (INRMPs)) through analysis and application of federal environmental laws including the Sikes Act, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
- Identify funding opportunities that will advance the implementation of programs that provide direct benefits to military installations and adjacent landscapes by conserving, managing, and supporting the recovery of imperiled species. This could include making targeted investments in focal species, habitats or ecosystems and developing habitat and multi-species crediting strategies that demonstrate return and incentivize future investment.
- Identify opportunities to proactively conserve at-risk species populations or habitats that are important to SERPPAS in a manner that would preclude the need to federally list a species (e.g. conservation agreements).
- Develop recommendations to create or improve functional corridors for wildlife and landscape resilience that support larger conservation goals and prioritize military encroachment concerns using existing geospatial information and emerging tools, such as the SERPPAS Good Map and the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) Blueprint.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen sustainable forest and natural resource markets that incentivize private land stewardship, enhance ecosystem and habitat resilience, and maintain open space critical to military readiness.
Work Group Lead
Dr. Rebecca Harrison (Lead)
At-Risk Species CoordinatorU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
470-925-5310| rebecca_harrison@fws.gov
Becky Harrison is the at-risk species coordinator for the Southeast region with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She has 25 years of experience in species conservation and adaptative management and has worked within diverse partner groups to create unified frameworks for strategic conservation planning and delivery.
She has degrees in Zoology and Wildlife Biology from Michigan State University (B.Sc.), Utah State University (M.Sc.) and North Carolina State University (PhD). Her post-doctoral work at University of Georgia was supported through a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. This research used the monarch butterfly as a model system of migration to investigate how animal movement patterns are influenced by infectious disease.
Becky joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011 and has worked across programs including the South Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, the National Wildlife Refuge System, Ecological Services, and Partners in Flight on collaborative conservation management projects across taxa including pollinators, red wolves, sea turtles, and migratory birds. She also serves as the species recovery lead for the endangered St. Francis satyr butterfly at Fort Bragg. She has collaborated with U.S. Army personnel, natural resource managers, and researchers on conservation management issues there since 2003. Her commitment to negotiating critical resource management decisions has recognized with several awards including the Secretary of the Interior’s Commendation award in 2017.
Request to Join Work Group
Resources
Documents
Websites
Department of War Natural Resources Program
America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative
Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA)
USFWS Southeast's At-Risk Species Finder
Southeast Regional Plants and Animals: Greatest Conservation Needs
Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS)
SERPPAS ARTE Work Group Focal Species List - This list has been compiled by the SERPPAS At-risk, Threatened and Endangered Species work group. It is intended to help partners understand and identify possible overlapping at-risk species priorities in the SERPPAS region. This list is purely informational and does not inherently indicate action.
News
State Roadmaps Released by the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI)
4/1/26
Implementation teams led by a state-based organization and comprised of local, state, and federal partners worked together with communities and key stakeholder groups to develop action-oriented roadmaps for each of the SASMI states.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program released its 2026 Report to Congress
3/20/26
The Department of War’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program released its 2026 Report to Congress, highlighting two decades of protecting mission-critical capabilities. From FY 2003–FY 2025, REPI leveraged $1.7 billion, alongside $1.5 billion in partner contributions, to safeguard more than 1.4 million acres across 41 states and territories.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Fall and winter tree insect pests
3/2/26
The University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources scientists have published an article on a few fall and winter tree insect pests that are currently active in Georgia and similar temperate regions.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
The USDA Forest Service and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission have signed a Good Neighbor Agreement
3/2/26
The USDA Forest Service and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission have signed a historic $290 million Good Neighbor Agreement to support Hurricane Helene recovery in western North Carolina.
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The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Receives National Agency Partner Award for Black Rail Conservation Efforts
2/27/26
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) received a National Agency Partner Award for its leadership in conserving the threatened Eastern Black Rail. The award recognizes years of collaborative, science-based efforts to understand the species better and protect its delicate coastal marsh habitat.
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National Coastal Resilience Fund
1/1/26
NFWF is funding two projects in the Northwest Florida Sentinel Landscape through its National Coastal Resilience Fund. Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program was awarded $1.38 million for final design and permitting of a major stream restoration on Carpenter Creek.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Events & Webinars
- Georgia Association of Conservation Districts (GACD) Annual Meeting
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August 23 - 25, 2026
Young Harris, GA - Restore America's Estuaries 2026 Coastal & Estuarine Summit
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September 22 - 25, 2026
San Francisco, CA - 13th U.S. Symposium on Harmful Algae
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October 25 - 29, 2026
Cedar Rapids, IA - 80th Annual SEAFWA Conference
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October 26 - 30, 2026
Nashville, TN - 16th Biennial Longleaf Conference
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October 27 - 30, 2026
Williamsburg, VA
SERPPAS Meetings
August 2026
- Fall 2026 SERPPAS Steering Committee Meeting
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August 19 - 20, 2026
Atlanta, GA



